


it's just you and me

by capt_snoozles



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, I Swear A Lot, Lesbian Azula (Avatar), M/M, Protective Azula (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko Friendship, Toph studies geology by licking the rocks, Toph totally adopts Izumi, Trans Zuko (Avatar), Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, azula and zuko are good siblings, bad language, coffee shop AU, kind of, shes surprisingly accurate, single dad Zuko, they all live in ba sing se, trans author, zuko is a single dad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:55:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28216575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/capt_snoozles/pseuds/capt_snoozles
Summary: They might not be the most financially well off people in Ba Sing Se, but Zuko is proud of the life he's made with his daughter. Sometimes, he's even able to forget that he doesn't know what happened to his sister, or that he left his friends behind, or that his uncle's phone number is no longer in service.He has Izumi, and his job and his friend-who-is-also-his-boss, and the pretty boy who comes in every day now.OR: Single Dad!Zuko AU
Relationships: Aang & Toph Beifong & Katara & Sokka & Suki & Zuko, Azula & Iroh (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Azula/Jin (Avatar), Izumi & Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 273
Kudos: 405





	1. His Life in an Envelope

When Zuko was 17, he let his little sister drag him to their highschool graduation party. Technically, he wasn't allowed to go due to the constant house arrest he was punished with, but Azula had sweet talked her way into their fathers permission and off they went.

It wasn't often that Zuko was allowed to be an actual teenager, so he'd grabbed the opportunity by the dick and let himself have fun.

He drank when drinks were offered, he danced if the music was right, and he let the faceless boy with the soft hair kiss him by the beer pong table. 

He let the faceless boy with the soft hair put his hands in his pants. Hell, he let the faceless boy take his pants off entirely in the backseat of a car that smelled like lemon air freshener. 

Azula had high-fived him when he returned, hair messy and neck littered with marks she'd cover up for him in the morning- because despite how hard Ozai tried, the siblings had never made enemies of each other. 

-

A couple weeks later, when he was at Ty Lee's house for a group sleep over, the four of them had gotten drunk and found pregnancy tests under the sink. It was Mai's brilliant idea to test them, if only for the drunken amusement of wasting someone else's stuff.

So, they'd all peed on a stick for shits and giggles and then slipped them into bags or pockets as an (admittedly gross) reminder of one of the few nights Zuko was allowed to have fun.

The morning afterwards, when Azula found Zuko staring at his test with wide-eyed horror, they knew it would be the last.

-

Despite their best efforts, Ozai found out and was predictably furious.

By the end of the week Zuko was living on his Uncle's couch, staring at the ceiling with a hand rested gently over his lower belly. Iroh didn't know the reason for Zuko's sudden eviction, and Zuko wasn't sure if he would tell him.

Obviously it was going to become a bit of a problem to hide, and Iroh was already concerned with his nephews sudden puke-related reaction to the smell of eggs. But for now he was too scared.

-

It was a misty morning in the park, about a week and a half after the pee-on-a-stick sleepover, when Azula handed him an envelope containing his entire identity. It held his school reports, his birth certificate, the documents for his transition, and another envelope she told him not to open until he was in Ba Sing Se. (Later, standing alone outside a foreign airport, he'd open the envelope and stare at the large wad of cash in a mix of relief and astonishment.) When he'd looked at her with a bewildered gaze, she handed him one last thing. A plane ticket.

“I know you got a scholarship to Ba Sing Se University, and I know you were planning on going anyway. Father and Uncle will have no idea where you’ve gone, and I won’t be mad if you lose my number too. I want you to be safe Zuzu, you and that.” She’d finished pointing at his still flat torso. 

They’d hugged, and he promised he’d find her again when they were older and she’d scoffed and told him not to be stupid. Neither commented when she’d tightened her hold on him before letting go.

-

She helped him pack when Iroh was at the market, shoving his clothes and a shoe box full of treasured possessions into a suitcase.

Ty Lee was the one to drop him off, a kiss on the cheek and a word of encouragement the last thing he'd experience of home.


	2. Chapter 2

"Izumi! Shoes on hun, we have to go!"

"I can't find them!"

"Aren't they next to the door?"

"Oh!"

-

"Daaaad can I do it? Please?"

"...Okay, but you have to make sure it beeps first."

"It beeped!"

"Good job! Do you want to sit next to the window?"

"Yes!"

* * *

The bell above the door jingled when they walked inside the familiar cafe, Izumi's bag clattering in time with her bouncing steps as she beelined for the counter. This early in the morning, there weren't that many customers; just an elderly couple and a highschooler who was probably waiting around for her friends.

At the register, a young woman with auburn hair tied up into a short pony tail looked up and smiled when she spotted them, showing expertly sharpened eyeliner wings and slightly crooked teeth.

"Hey you two! What'll it be today?" Suki greeted, tapping the screen in preparation to take down their orders. Izumi excitedly rattled off her order for hot chocolate and pancakes while Zuko leaned over the counter and swung his bag onto the shelf underneath it. Then he ordered a much needed coffee, and Suki promised to get it to them as soon as she could. 

By the time Zuko had to get Izumi to school, the first grader had cream and syrup smeared on her cheeks and while it was gross, it was also stupidly adorable the way she screwed up her nose when he tried to wipe it off.

And, when they actually got to her class, leaving her at the door was _so hard_.

-

Suki and Zuko made small talk as he tied his apron around his waist, before they were interrupted by a faint clatter from the kitchen.

" _Is that Zuko?!_ "

Suki made a face and snorted. "Sorry, I forgot Jin wanted me to let her know when you clocked in."

Zuko raised an amused eyebrow and tilted his head in the direction of the beaded curtain they used as a kitchen door. "Hi Jin."

After another faint clatter, followed by footsteps, and a brown haired girl was excitedly pushing her way through the curtain with a pleasant clatter of beads. She was a little shorter than Zuko with olive-green eyes and a smile that never failed to light a room. She was holding a container between both hands and, he noted endearingly, she had flour streaked on her jaw.

"Okay so I was stress cooking last night and I ended up with _way_ too many cookies so I figured I'd give the left overs to you and Izumi!" With a grin, the brunette held out the container, her hands slightly covered in some sort of dough. 

Zuko rolled his eyes affectionately as he took the container from her, secretly touched that she'd thought of them. "Thank you Jin, but what's got you stress baking?"

The brunette flushed and wrung her hands. "Uh, well you know my girlfriend? And how I always joke about the fact that she practically lives with me?"

Zuko shared a sly look with Suki before nodding. He could guess where this was going.

"Well- I finally got the guts to ask her to move in with me for realsies! ...But that was only after the stress baking." She admitted with a sheepish smile.

Suki grinned, leaning closer. "Well? What did she say?"

Try as she might, Jin couldn't keep the excited look off her face for long. "She said yes!" The younger girl was positively beaming. "I'm going over to help her pack after my shift!"

"Yes!" Suki cheered, high-fiving her co-worker, which Zuko was quick to follow. 

"Anyway, I should probably get back to work, who knows what Aang's done to my kitchen." Jin laughed, bouncing back through the beads.

Suki and Zuko shared another look before shaking their heads in laughter and getting back to work. 

-

When 3 o'clock finally hit, Zuko was still half way through serving a middle aged couple their tea and therefore didn't actually notice the time. It wasn't until Suki suddenly appeared in front of him, frantically taking the tray of dishes he'd cleaned up from a different table, and telling him to take his apron off that he realised he was late to pick his daughter up.

"Oh _shit-_ " He cursed, fumbling with the knot around his waist before pulling the apron over his head and just throwing it on the counter. The part of him that was still locked in the mental prison of his childhood upbringing itched to hang it up properly, but he didn't have time.

He was late and Izumi's teacher probably thought he was a bad dad and she had probably called CPS and they were going to take her away from him and- Zuko's spiralling thoughts were scattered to the wind as he crashed someone who had been looking down at their phone.

The force of it sent him stumbling into the doorway as he was caught off guard, panic boiling to anger. Momentarily channelling his younger sister, Zuko threw a glare over his shoulder and hissed at the man he'd collided with to "fucking watch it" before pushing off the door frame and continuing on his mission.

Izumi's teacher did, in fact, _not_ immediately call Child Protective Services just because he was 5 minutes late; and even offered him a bewildered smile when he stumbled into the room with messy hair and almost no air in his lungs, apologising for having kept his daughter waiting. 

"Dad!" The 6 year old cheered, her pony tail swinging as she bounced over to him. Something in his chest soothed at the sight of his daughter, and he crouched down to give her a kiss on the forehead. 

"Hey sunshine, how was school?"

"It was really good!" She started excitedly, her eyes wide as she babbled to him about everything that had happened in the 6 hours they were apart. He listened intently as they walked out of the building, nodding and making comments when it seemed appropriate.

She was halfway through the epic-retelling of the game she'd been playing at lunch when they reached the cafe, her hand held securely in Zuko's while her bag - covered in painted sunflowers - was slung over her shoulder.

Smellerbee waved as they walked through the door, having taken over from Suki who was probably on her break. A quick scan of the room showed Suki sitting across from a man around their age who was in the middle of laughing at something.

"Can I go say hi to Suki?" Izumi asked, her eyes trained on his friend. 

Zuko shook his head. "Sorry sunshine, she's talking to someone right now. How about I get you set up and you can talk to her when she's done?"

She seemed to accept his reasoning, so he lead her over to the bar stools set up along part of the counter and grabbed her pencil case out of her bag so she could draw. 

Zuko had been working at Kyoshi Cafe since a little before Izumi was born, when he'd first moved to Ba Sing Se. The previous owner had been Suki's aunt, who had been more than willing to help after learning about his situation. He'd had to quit for about a year after giving birth, and instead picked up some odd jobs around his apartment building to save up some money until he'd gotten into the swing of parenthood, and finished getting his bachelor in arts.

Suki had been the one to re-hire him, and they'd fallen back into their friendship with ease.

"Alright, I've got to get back to work, be good okay?" Zuko said, kissing her on the forehead as he finished tying his apron. 

"I'm always good." Izumi grumbled, scribbling a sun in the corner of her page. Zuko rolled his eyes affectionately and went back to work, carefully stacking used plates onto a tray to take back to the kitchens for Aang to wash. Suki was still talking to her friend in the corner, but she flashed him a smile and waved to Izumi when she finally noticed that they'd gotten back. 

Zuko was playing a particularly perilous game of tetris with a stack of tea cups about half an hour later, when he heard Suki call his name and barely managed to stop himself from jumping in surprise. With a scowl he half turned so he could see where she was now standing beside Izumi, who seemed to be explaining something to Suki's friend. "What?"

Suki raised an eyebrow playfully. "That's no way to talk to your boss- can you come over here when you've taken those to the kitchen?"

Zuko sniffed indignantly, readjusting his grip on the tray before turning fully, reminding himself that his daughter was there _and_ he was at work so he should probably refrain from giving the childish response he wanted to. "Yes boss."

Aang grinned at him with way too much enthusiasm for someone who washes dishes for a living; but Zuko had discovered that was just how the 19 year old was. 

"Okay, I'm here." Zuko announced, dusting off his hands on his hips and making a face at Izumi, who grinned in delight. 

"Dad! This is Suki's friend!" She cheered, pointing to her left, where the man from earlier was seated. Zuko followed her finger, quietly reminding her it was rude to point, and suddenly felt rather attacked.

Suki's friend was beautiful. Wide-set nose, high cheekbones, long lashes. He had dark brown hair pulled back into a pony-tail, the sides shaved down to his scalp, and matching eyes. His skin was light brown and freckles, a shade darker, were scattered over his shoulders and the bridge of his nose. He smiled, showing some unfairly nice teeth, and Zuko lost the ability to breathe.

"This is my friend Sokka," Suki introduced, snapping him back into his body. "He's the one who ran into you earlier, and he wanted to apologise."

Sokka, who's arms were bare thanks to the tank top he was wearing, rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. He wasn't _beefy_ but he could certainly hold his own in an arm-wrestling match and Zuko's stupid brain stuttered at the sight of his bicep.

Could he be any more of a gay disaster?

"Uh, yeah, I really am sorry about that. I should have been watching where I was going, I didn't mean to make you fall into the door like that."

He seemed sincere enough, with his soft expression and the grease smeared on his chin, but Zuko enjoyed being a pain. Besides, his arm still ached.

"Yeah, you probably should have been paying attention."

Suki snorted when Sokka's expression dampened, but a third voice was quick to join in.

Ever a seeker of justice, Izumi scowled at her dad. "Dad, he said he was sorry!"

Just to be a bother, Zuko placed a hand on his hip as dramatically as possible. "And?"

Izumi puffed her cheeks out. "You always say that if someone says sorry and asks for fo-forgiveness, you should be nice and accept it!"

With a victorious grin and a glance to Sokka, Zuko replied. "But, he hasn't asked for forgiveness, has he?"

Izumi frowned, and then turned as far towards Sokka as she could. God she was so precious, Zuko just wanted to wrap her up and tuck her away in his heart forever. 

"You have to ask for forgiveness."

With a surprised glance at the 6 year old, Sokka looked back towards Zuko, an amused yet bewildered smile on his lips. "Alright, may I please be forgiven?"

Zuko eyed him, before sighing. "Yeah sure. And, by the way-" He continued, turning to his daughter. "I also always tell you that not everyone deserves forgiveness, so don't go half-assing my advice."

Izumi grinned, and Zuko regretted opening his mouth. Even now, the women in his life were experts at making a fool of him. "You're not supposed to say 'assed' dad."

Poking his tongue out in an act of complete maturity, he pointed back to her half-finished drawing. "Just finish your drawing, my shifts over in an hour."

Izumi wrinkled her nose the way she always did when she knew she'd beaten him and happily picker her marker back up.

Meanwhile, Suki had floated back over to the register and it was just Zuko and Sokka. 

"Well, it was nice meeting you Sokka- and you really are forgiven for running into me. It was my fault as well, I was in a rush so I wasn't paying attention, so I hope _you_ can forgive _me._ For now, I really do have to get back to work." With a smile in the other mans direction, Zuko gave Izumi a kiss on the forehead and headed back out onto the floor. 

"Hey Zuko?"

He turned. Sokka smiled, the action softer than their encounter called for.

"I forgive you."

-

By the time he finished his shift, it was 5pm and Izumi was half asleep with her markers spread around her in a rainbow. He smiled as he hung up his apron and lowered the bar flap as gently as he could so he didn't startle her, before carefully packing away her things. 

When his murmured "Do you want me to carry you?" was met with a sleepy nod, he slung her bag over his shoulder and then hoisted her into his arms so she was sitting on his hip. She was getting a bit big to carry but he could never deny her anything.

"Oh, Zuko, before you leave-" Suki's voice made him pause, re-adjusting Izumi as he turned towards her. She'd finished her shift as well, but she usually hung around to go over all the business-owner things she had to do. She had a bag in her hands.

"One of the orders for today got mixed up so this one was sent back and I know you have to pay rent this week so I thought i'd wrap it up for you an Izumi. It's just a pair of chicken wraps, and I also know that Jin already gave you guys cookies but-"

"Suki," Zuko interrupted, chest warm with gratitude. He often wondered what he'd done to end up with friends like the ones he had. "Thank you."

6 years ago he would have stiffly refused, unwilling to accept any "charity". But by now he'd grown to accept that it was just how Suki was. She wasn't doing it out of pity, or because she didn't think he couldn't look after himself and Izumi. It was simply because she cared.

Suki smiled, as dazzling and easygoing as always and carefully looped the handle of the bag around his wrist when he held it out. "Get home safe." She said, before heading back to the table she'd been sharing with Sokka.

"Alright spitfire, let's get you home." He murmured into his daughters hair, waving at Suki (and Sokka) one last time before disappearing out the door. 

* * *

“Alrighty, need help?”

“Yes please.”

“There you go, you want socks?”

“Mm, no.”

-

“Want a story or want to watch cartoons?”

“Oh! Cartoons! Please!”

“Okay, let me grab my laptop.”

-

“You ready for bed?”

“...”

“Izumi?”  
“...”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

* * *

Zuko waited a few more minutes, staring at the ceiling in the dark before turning his head to look down at Izumi. In the dark her features were blurred, face soft and round and pale. Her black hair looked like spilled ink against the yellow pillow. In the dim lighting, with only one working eye, she looked so much like Azula that his eyes stung with unshed tears.

He'd never been able to get into contact after making it to Ba Sing Se.

And then, when Izumi was two, Azula vanished. The press were all over it for days, badgering Ozai with questions about his prodigy daughter, making accusations about how suspicious it was that _both_ of his children had disappeared under mysterious circumstances. An expert at getting his way, Ozai managed to come up with a fairly convincing tale about Azula deciding to study abroad for an unknown period of time, to further her business education.

The press, and the world, believed him. Zuko knew, in his bones, that it was bullshit.

In his first year in Ba Sing Se, there had been times where he'd been tempted to call their uncle. Times when he was feeling awful and guilty and alone with an empty apartment and a newborn baby, but he hadn't known what he'd say. 

Once, when Izumi had gotten sick for the first time and Zuko was in a panic, not knowing how to help her, he'd _did_ call. To this day he's not sure what was scarier that night: his baby's burning skin, or the recorded voice telling him Iroh's number was no longer in service.

Since then, he called once a year, on his own birthday. The message stayed the same, and Zuko wondered if that's why he called.

Slowly, Zuko crept out of their bed, making sure Izumi stayed asleep as he tiptoed out of the room with his laptop in hand. He closed the door most of the way and carefully made his way across the darkened living space to get to the kitchen.

After flicking on the lights, he set his laptop down on the table and sat cross-legged in his chair. None of their chairs matched (most of their furniture didn't match exactly) so everyone had their own Assigned Seats.

Izumi's was a Queen Anne styled chair that they'd found in a thrift store. Someone had artfully burned sunflowers into the back, and Izumi had left smears of paint and bite marks alone the sides. The sunflowers were the reason Izumi wanted it, but the low price and yellow cushion really cinched it.

Zuko's was a chinese armchair, one that reminded him of his uncles dining room, with a dragon engraved down the back, and a dark red cushion to stop his legs from hurting when he sat in it for too long. 

The other chairs had been brought over by Suki and Jin after they got sick of having to eat on the couch when they came over. Suki's being one of the metal-framed, wooden seated chairs from the cafe; and Jins being a light green "ombre windsor chair" (her words).

So, his chairs didn't match. And it would have bothered him if they didn't all somehow manage to hold sentimental value. They looked odd around the rectangle table as well, but Zuko barely noticed it anymore.

Opening up _google sheets_ , he spent the next hours figuring out how to pay his bills whilst still making rent and keeping them fed. Once he was satisfied that he'd sorted it out to the best of his ability, he allowed himself another few minutes to search up Azulas name, trying to ignore the familiar disappointment when he found nothing.

After a moment of hesitation, Zuko found himself typing in a new name, biting his lip before pressing enter. The silence in his apartment seemed to press around him as his laptop lagged, before the results finally appeared. His eye widened.

_Iroh Sozin - Jasmine Dragon Tea_

Without thinking, he clicked the link and was taken to an article about a new tea shop that was quickly becoming very popular, both for it's stellar customer service and "deliciously perfect tea". He read the next line with his fingers pressed against his mouth.

_Iroh opened his own tea shop in Ba Sing Se about two years ago, after working as a server in the lower ring. He says it's a "dream come true" to have his own tea shop, and hopes to keep it running for many years to come._

The article was at least a few years old, meaning that Iroh had been in the city for awhile. And Zuko had no idea. He'd just been breaking his heart with a dead-end phone call every year.

Almost desperately, he checked for an actual website, and was surprised to find one. One that listed an address and a phone number.

Running on an adrenaline high and fully expecting no one to answer, he crept back to his room to grab his phone from where it was charging next to their bed. Izumi made a soft sound in her sleep and Zuko paused, looking for any signs of discomfort or fear on her face before slowly sneaking back to the table.

It rang six and a half time before there was a crackling of static and a tired, but achingly familiar, voice said: "Hello?"

And Zuko froze. 

His eyes stung and his throat burned and Uncle Iroh was repeating his greeting with growing concern.

"Hello? Is there someone there?"

Zuko almost, almost, made a sound. But then he looked up and caught sight of the bag Suki had given him sitting on the kitchen bench. His eyes dropped to Izumi's hand-painted school bag abandoned by the door, saw her photos lining the wall between old photos of his mum and his sister and newer photos of Suki and Jin. Saw a photo from last month; of Jin mid-laugh with Suki on her back, Zuko shooting them a startled look while Izumi sat on his hip, laughing into his shoulder and facing the camera.

He saw, all clustered together in this small apartment in a city far away from where he grew up, the life he'd built with his daughter. 

And suddenly, Zuko remembered how he’d left his uncle with no warning. He thought about how his uncle might have reacted, to come home and find all of his nephews things gone, his phone sitting on the bench. No note. No warning. Just gone.

He hung up the phone, collapsed back into his chair, and let himself cry.

-

He climbed back into bed 20 minutes later.

Once he was settled, Izumi mumbled in her sleep and snuggled closer to him until she was pressed against his chest, her hair going into his mouth. 

Still feeling ripped open and bare, the sudden rush of his love for her almost made him cry again. Instead, he kissed her forehead and wrapped his arm around her to pull her even closer. 

He missed his sister and his uncle so much. Sometimes the years apart threatened to swallow him in his loneliness.

He wasn't alone though. He had Izumi, and together they had their own circle of friends and family.

Their landlord Aunt Wu, who had been there for him through his pregnancy, and who was as flexible with his rent as she could be. Who pointed him in the direction of odd jobs around the building so he could earn some extra money when he needed it. 

Suki, who gave them their own account on her netflix and who slapped him across the face the first (and only) time he called himself a bad father. Who dragged in her own chair the second time she ever visited, who always paid for Izumi's breakfast on her birthday.

Jin, who went and picked up Izumi from school when Zuko couldn't get away from a group of customers, who stress baked and always gave him the excess, who appeared at his door with his favourite dessert on his sisters first birthday after she disappeared because she knew he needed a friend that night.

And Sela, who lived in the apartment down the hall and taught him how to change a diaper, how to heat up milk, how to hold a newborn baby. Who's son Lee was the first friend Izumi ever made, who held his hand on the way to the hospital when he went into labour. 

For now, he would let himself mourn the absence of his family, but he supposed he wasn't lonely anymore.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hello? Zuko here."

"Ah, hello, this is Ms Peters, I'm an administrator at Izumi's school."

"Oh- is Izumi okay?"

"I'm afraid not Mr Sozin. Izumi's just been brought to the sick bay with a headache and she's saying that her tummy hurts. We think it might be best if she were taken home."

"Oh god, uh, I'll be there as quick as I can, thank you."

* * *

"Um, hi, I'm Zuko Sozin? Izumi's dad? You guys called me, I'm here to pick her up."

The woman at the desk looked up, her eyes predictably settling on the left side of his face just long enough for him to decide he should start wearing his hair down in public. "Right." She started, pulling her gaze away from his scar but still lingering on him for a moment longer.

"Just come with me," She said eventually, standing up from her chair. "I'll take you to the sick bay."

Zuko nodded, absently pulling some of his hair to cover the side of his face, before following her through a doorway and down a hall. They stopped at a door that was decorated with children's drawings and laminated flowers and Zuko watched as the lady knocked and waited. 

The door was opened a moment later, revealing a brown skinned woman in a blue button-up tucked into a black skirt. She smiled at him, recognition stirring in the back of his mind as he tried to figure out where he'd seen it before, and offered her hand.

"I'm the school nurse, Katara, you must be Izumi's dad?" She asked as they shook hands. Zuko nodded. Katara's smile softened. "She's been asking for you."

The nurse stepped back and gestured for him to step into the room, waving at the administrator who quickly left them alone. Izumi was curled up on a cot in the corner of the room, her hair out and curling over her shoulders.

" 'Zumi?" He asked gently, crouching next to the cot and watching as his daughters eyes opened. She blinked a few times, taking a moment to focus on his face before she realised who he was and her eyes welled with tears.

"Daddy-" She whimpered, holding out her arms in a silent plea for his warmth. He was quick to oblige, gently gathering her into his arms and holding her tightly as she mumbled about feeling sick. He ran his fingers through her hair, and kissed the side of her head.

"I know baby, I'm gonna take you to the cafe though okay? Suki's already making you some soup and I'm sure Jin's got panadol lying around somewhere." He paused, considering, before swallowing back a grimace. "Unless you think you need to go straight home?"

Izumi pulled back a little bit, her face red from tears and Zuko gently wiped away. "I'll go to the cafe with you." She mumbled, sniffling again and burying her face against his shoulder. With a soft sigh of relief, he adjusted his hold on her and then carefully lifted her up so her legs were around his waist. 

When he was sure she was secure, he turned to find Katara holding Izumi's bag.

"Thank you so much for looking after her."

Katara shook her head and held out the bag by the handle. "It's my job."

"Still, thank you." Zuko said earnestly, taking the bag and following Katara to the door.

It was pretty easy to find his way to the front office after that, and from there it was a quick walk down the street to get back to the cafe. It had gotten warmer since this morning, and Zuko was grateful for the thin material of his work shirt. Izumi was wearing one of his old shirts like a dress, her yellow scrunchie secure around her wrist.

During business hours, Suki kept the door to the cafe propped open with a fern. She said it made the place look more inviting and "increased flow". Luckily, even with the door open, walking into the cafe was a nice change of temperature; the shade and the air conditioning keeping the building cooler than outside. 

Smellerbee was manning the register again, her choppy brown hair pushed back with a headband and the usual war paint smeared in two lines down her cheeks to her jaw. She waved at them as they headed to the bar stools along the counter and he smiled apologetically.

"Sorry for leaving like that."

The younger girl shrugged, flashing a smile at the customer she'd just served as they walked away. "It's no problem dude, I know your kid's not feeling well."

She turned to serve the next customer and Zuko hid his smile in Izumi's hair as he lowered her into one of the stools and carefully detached her arms from around his neck. "You feeling okay?"

She sniffled and shook her head. "Head hurts."

Zuko bit his lip. "I know bub, I'll get you some water okay? And I'll send over some soup as well."

Izumi nodded and draped herself over the counter, resting her head on her arms. Distantly, Zuko was glad the cafe was quiet today. He leaned over and kissed her temple, lingering for a moment longer before finally grabbing his apron and getting back to work.

-

"Hey, you guys finished with everything today?"

The girls nodded with polite smiles that Zuko returned, his customer service persona driving his body as he collected their dishes and stacked them on a tray. 

"Will you guys be needing anything else?" He checked, pausing before leaving. They looked at each other before looking back at him and giving him a quiet 'no thank you' so he grabbed their number and slid it into his apron pocket.

He checked on Izumi as he walked past, watching her carefully eating the soup he'd bought her. He wanted desperately to scoop her up in his arms and kiss her better, but he had to finish this shift if he wanted to make rent on time for once.

Most days he worked a double shift; usually morning and afternoon, but sometimes he'd wrangle Suki into giving him closing as well when she was understaffed. With the double shift from today and the closing shift tomorrow, he was bound to make rent and have enough for grocery shopping over the weekend.

Jin was in the kitchens, bossing Haru around, while Aang was happily scrubbing away at a collection of plates. Zuko almost felt bad about adding to the pile, until Aang grinned at him and held out two sudsy hands for the tray.

"Thanks." He muttered apologetically, smiling at the other boys cheerful "no problem Zuko!"

-

Time seemed to fly as he got more immersed in work, occasionally checking in on Izumi before going back to writing down orders and cleaning tables, and soon enough her turned around to see Sokka leaning over the counter and poking Suki in the forehead. 

Sokka had been coming in almost daily, usually around the same time thanks to it being his lunch break.

Zuko snorted as Suki slapped Sokkas hand away, making him pull a face at her, but his attention was quickly taken by Izumi when she patted his arm.

"Yeah sunshine?" He asked, crouching down so she didn't have to raise her voice for him to hear her. 

"My head hurts again." She mumbled, rubbing at her eye. Zuko bit the inside of his lip, checked the clock above the door and sighed.

"You wanna go home?" He asked, equal parts unhappy to finish his shift early and unhappy to keep her there. 

Surprisingly she shook her head. Zuko frowned a little harder. "You sure?

This time she nodded and Zuko eyed her a bit before glancing up to see if anyone was manning the register. Suki was still messing around with Sokka, but quickly turned around when Zuko called her name.

"What's up?" 

"Do you have any panadol? Izumi's got a headache."

Suki shot a concerned look at Izumi and rubbed her thumb along her pointer finger the way she did when she was thinking. "I might have some in the back room, you wanna watch the register while I go grab it?"

Zuko nodded, and ducked under the bar flap while she headed for the back room.

He was at the register for barely a second before Sokka slid over with the same smile he always seemed to wear. Zuko thought of the nurse at Izumi's school and wondered if they were related.

"Large latte for here?" Zuko guessed, hand poised over the keypad to type it in. Sokka grinned and nodded.

"I can't believe you've already memorised my order, does this mean I'm your favourite customer?" Sokka wiggles his eyebrows jokingly and Zuko sniffs.

"Nope, my favourite customer is my daughter. And my second favourite customer is a high schooler named Lillian who always orders tea on her way to school."

Sokka laughs and while Zuko would usually find the sound disarming, his concern for Izumi kept his thoughts pointed sternly in her direction. 

"Anyway, is that all you wanted for today?" He followed up, typing in the order without looking up.

"Uh, yeah, thanks." If Sokka sounded a bit disheartened, it doesn't show on his face when Zuko does look up.

"Okay, cool, I'll get that started for you now."

He saw Suki moving towards Izumi until she passed onto his left and become a vaguely coloured blur, and was comforted knowing that his daughter was being looked after. 

He made the latte on autopilot, trying to figure out if they had soup in the cupboard at home and then wondering if Sela or Aunt Wu would have any, before being jolted out of it by Sokka's "Thanks" as he handed over the finished coffee.

Zuko, startled and his mind still focused elsewhere, accidentally blurted out the word "soup" instead of "you're welcome, enjoy your day" and paused as the mistake registered in his head. Sokka let out a surprised laugh as Zuko briefly regretted his entire existence before he attempted to salvage the interaction.

"I meant: you're welcome." He said, voice dripping with _please-kill-me_.

Sokka was still smiling, expression soft and warm and twisting something in Zuko's chest. He looked like he was about to say something when Izumi's voice tore Zuko's attention elsewhere.

"Daddy?"

He turned to the right immediately, meeting his daughters watery gaze and immediately stepping towards her. "What's up bub?"

"Can we go home now?" She asked, lip wobbling and eyes shiny with tears. Zuko's heart dropped and he was looking for Suki before he was even aware of it. She was just walking past with a tray of dishes and must have heard Izumi's plea because patted his arm as she passed. "Take her home. You've only got half an hour left on your shift anyway."

Zuko slumped in relief, untying his apron and pulling it over his head as quick as he could. "Thanks Suki."

He grabbed his bag and then Izumi's and hoisted her out of her chair, letting her wrap her legs around his waist and hide her face in his shoulder. She wasn't overly warm so Zuko just chalked it up to a regular headache, thankfully.

Once he was sure he had everything, he paused and looked over at Sokka who was watching the pair of them with concern.

"Uh, have a nice day." He blurted before hurrying out of the cafe, feeling flustered and idiotic. 

-

Izumi sat in his lap the whole bus ride home before immediately crawling into bed when he put her down in their apartment. He followed her to make sure she was tucked in and didn't need anything, before heading back to the kitchen to figure out what to make for dinner.

He opened the cupboard and felt a brief swell of triumph. They _did_ have soup.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that ending was weak but i deadass did not know how else to end it so,, soup?


	4. Chapter 4

A cup of still steaming tea held steady in his hand, Zuko gracefully fell onto their couch (the back was covered in crayon scribbles from when Izumi was a toddler and Zuko had gotten weirdly attached to them) and took a content sip, before wriggling around to grab his phone and sliding it out of his pocket.

He only had to type the letter A into the search bar before google was filling in the rest for him: _Azula Sozin._

Zuko wasn't sure what he was expected, but the flush of disappointment was familiar. He googled her name at least once a day, just in case there was _something_ new to know, but there never was. He sighed and stared out the window that took up most of the wall, a small fern sitting on the window sill silhouetted against the morning sky. They had a pretty nice view of the street most of the time, but from where he was all he could see was the top of a tree and the building across the street from theirs.

It wasn't often he got a moment to actually think about his family. Usually Izumi or work kept him busy. If it wasn't that, it was dinner with their landlord or doing laundry with Sela or hosting play dates with Lee.

But now- Izumi was still asleep because he liked to give her a day to recuperate after she'd been sick, and he didn't have to go into work until 1. So, his thoughts were free to wander.

Sometimes, if he closed his eyes, he could almost remember the smell of Azula's hair when she'd hugged him on that park bench, and the feeling of her deceptively strong arms wrapped around his torso. It hurt, not knowing where his little sister was. Not knowing what had happened to her, if she was safe.

Sometimes he wondered if his instincts were wrong, and she _was_ dead.

It had become the subject for more than one nightmare, an awful fear to choke on in the middle of the night; but he knew that's all it was. A fear.

Azula was too... _Azula_ to just lay down and die.

Death would come for her and she'd talk him in circles until he abandoned his purpose for being and took up street performing in Rome, wholeheartedly believing it was his own idea. 

It wouldn't be fair anyway, for her to be the first one to die out of the two of them. Zuko was definitely on his 7th life by now; spite and his daughter being the only things keeping him on his feet some days. If either of them was going down first, it would be him.

A noise from their bedroom broke him out of his thoughts, the smell of Azula's perfume fading from his memory as he set down his half-finished tea on the floor by the couch and left to tend to his daughter.

-

"Okay bub," Zuko started, setting down the box of nail polish on the kitchen table with a soft rattle. "Pick a colour."

Izumi, practically vibrating in her chair, rifled through the colours before pulling out a half empty bottle of warm yellow. Zuko smiled, unsurprised, and reached for it.

Izumi flailed her hands with a cry of _"Dad!"_ when he started shaking the bottle and he paused, waiting for whatever she was about to say.

"You have to pick a colour too!"

With a fond smile, Zuko rolled his eyes and resumed shaking the bottle while he reached into the box with his free hand. Izumi wrinkled her nose when she saw him pull out the bottle of plain black, so he poked his tongue out at her because he was immature and she always found it funny. "You told me to pick a colour, so I did." He reminded her, finally deciding the yellow was shaken enough.

He gestured for her hands and she happily pressed them against the newspaper he'd laid over the table. The smell of nail polish stung his nose when he unscrewed the bottle and he sniffled a bit before taking a breathe to steady his hands.

"Okay, keep still or it'll go everywhere." He instructed, gently moving the brush over her pinky nail. Izumi, more patient than Zuko was at her age, managed to keep perfectly still as he painted the rest of her fingers. When he asked for her other hand, she moved the wet one out of the way slowly and carefully set it down on a different section of newspaper. 

Zuko's heart swelled with affection and he felt his lips pull into an adoring smile before they relaxed back into concentration. 

It took a few coats and enough blowing on her nails to make him dizzy before they were the vibrant and sunny yellow she wanted and Zuko took great delight in watching her bounce around looking at them.

He quickly shook and opened the black bottle as he watched her, applying the paint with more speed and ease now that it was his own nails, before he caught sight of Izumi's pushed out chair. His gaze flickered back to the black nail polish he'd just set down, and he quickly reached for the toothpicks they kept with the nail polish for more detailed work.

"Hey sunshine, come back I just got an idea!"

* * *

“Do you have to go?”

“Yeah bub, I’m sorry- you’ll be good for Ms Wu though?”

“..okay.”

“Thank you, I’ll be home before you know it.”

* * *

Zuko was put on dish duty as soon as he walked through the door, as Suki had decided it was the best way to keep his mind off of Izumi until he got over leaving her behind.

He grumbled and huffed but rolled up his sleeves and pulled on some gloves anyway because she was _right dammit_ , and had promptly been sucked into the routine of scraping, rinsing, scrubbing and drying dishes as they came through; handed over by Aang who had taken over what was usually Zuko's job. Suki tried to keep them on a rotation of jobs, making sure everyone got experience doing everything because most of their workers were high schoolers or just people looking for general work experience.

On a normal day, Zuko was working the floor or making coffee (he'd slowly become their best barista over the years), but sometimes she'd switch it up- either to keep him on his toes, or keep him distracted if something was going on with him.

The first time she'd done it, it had been his first year back at working in the cafe and she'd taken one look at his exhausted face and red-rimmed eyes and stuck him on sandwich duty. Sandwich assembly had actually done a surprisingly good job of distracting him from his sisters disappearance; so Suki had stuck to the method for every other unfortunate situation.

And now, he was trying to scrub dried egg yolk off of a plate- until Aang bounced up beside him, his anklet jangling pleasantly with his movements. "Ms Suki says we have to swap now!"

Zuko nodded, wiping his hair out of his face with forearm because his hands were still soapy. "You know you can just call her Suki right?"

Aang just hummed and shrugged before taking over the dishes, leaving Zuko to quickly pull off his gloves and head back out to the register, shaking his head fondly at their youngest employee.

Longshot was steaming milk when Zuko left the kitchen and they nodded to each other in greeting before Zuko scanned the building for his best friend.

She was standing by a table near the front corner, nose scrunched in amusement as she wrote down whatever the black haired customer was ordering. The girl sitting at the table looked to be around the same age as Aang, dressed in a baggy green mechanic styled jumpsuit that was tied at the waist with the sleeves, and a black singlet. Her hair was wrapped up into a messy bun (the kind of messy that comes with lack of care and a lot of movement) and a dark green headband was keeping it out of her face. 

Zuko also noticed, with vague shock, that the girl was barefoot; a pair of dirty combat boots sitting beside her chair with a pair of bright pink socks shoved into them. The grin she was giving Suki was straight up feral and Zuko decided that he'd happily stay behind the register and wait for Suki to come to him.

Eventually, Suki seemed done with her conversation and she spun on her heels, hair floating around her face, still laughing a bit as she got back to the counter.

"Toph, at table 3-" The table with the feral girl. "Would like an iced mocha and a blueberry muffin please and thank you."

Zuko raised his eyebrow, peering over Suki's shoulder at 'Toph' who was in the process of plugging her headphones into her phone. "She looks like she'd commit arson for laughs, and you want me to bring her an iced mocha and a muffin?"

Suki laughed, her nose wrinkling again as she bared her top teeth. Zuko had always loved the way she laughed, it made him want in on whatever joke she was being told. "You don't have to serve it, but you should still do your job and make the mocha."

While he knew she was teasing, she'd poked her tongue out and everything, Zuko still felt himself flush as he mumbled an apology and darted over to where Longshot was now reorganising their syrups.

When he was done, he put the mocha and the muffin on a serving tray, calling out Suki's name and gesturing towards the order when he caught her eye. She nodded to Toph's table, before resuming taking the order of the older couple she was with.

Zuko stared at her for exactly 20 seconds, before internally swearing at her and grumbling to himself as he ducked through the bar flap and picked up the tray.

"Iced mocha and blueberry muffin?" He asked, just to make sure, when he reached the younger girls side.

Toph sucked her teeth and looked up in his... general direction, one headphone in. Zuko thought he heard a robotic voice reading out something through the other one but it was a little loud in the cafe and his left side was facing Toph so he couldn't be sure. 

"You're not Suki." She announced.

"Nope, I'm Zuko- was this your order or not?" Apparently, customer service Zuko had checked out after spending all morning washing dishes. He cringed briefly at himself but, rather than being offended, Toph snorted, her eyebrows raised in delight.

"Damn, you got fire Sparky, I wasn't expecting the attitude! Yeah, the orders mine, hand it over." She grinned the same feral grin she'd trained on Suki and Zuko was beginning to think that that was just how she smiled. All teeth on display like a threat.

"Fantastic." He deadpanned, placing both items in front of her and quietly saying what each was as they touched the table. Toph's face softened in surprise for a moment before she pulled the mocha towards her and took a big enough sip that Zuko saw the cream drop about a centimetre.

"Shit this is good." She decided, and Zuko let himself smile.

"Were you needing anything else?" He asked, deciding to at least _try_ to salvage his service skills; even if Toph seemed amused by his regular personality.

"Actually, yeah, my friend just texted me and said he was on his way so could you get me a large latte as well? Thanks." Toph spoke around her straw, digging her hands into the pocket of her jumpsuit, pulling out a $10 note. Her nails were short and crusted with dirt as though she hadn't been able to wash it all off, and when Zuko's fingers brushed hers as he grabbed the money, they were rough.

"Alright, I'll be back with the drink and your change in a few minutes."

Toph just nodded, picking up her phone with one hand and tapping something out.

 _What a weirdo._ Zuko thought, feeling a pang of fondness in his chest.


	5. BONUS SCENE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was a scene I wrote in the original version of this fic, but with the new plot it didn't fit in anymore so i replaced it with the nail painting scene.
> 
> but i still think it's a cute scene, and it's one of my favourites, so i'm adding it as a little bonus chapter, i hope you like it!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm also adding it as a small apology for taking so long to update; i spent a lot of this week sticking to reading instead of writing

Izumi had been restless all night and had only managed to fall asleep by the time Zuko was setting up for his class. At least, she’d been asleep when Zuko had closed the door on her earlier, so he was mostly just hoping that she’d managed to stay that way. 

Just in case, Zuko had emailed his professor the night before, informing him that his daughter was sick so he might have to check on her during class. Luckily, most of his lit class had met Izumi over the past year so Piandao was understanding. 

“Zuko, how do you think the author used these techniques to represent the events going on in the world when she was writing?” Piandao asked, knowing from experience that Zuko was paying attention even if it wasn’t obvious.

Zuko glanced down at his notes, thinking for a moment before launching into an overly detailed analysis of the chapter they’d recently looked over, the rest of his class already used to his semi-awkward stumbling way of explaining his thoughts as they wrote down parts of what he was saying.

Sokka also seemed to be handling it pretty well, not that Zuko was paying that much attention to the square in the right hand corner. 

When Piandao asked Sokka a question next, Zuko let himself stare a little bit. Sokka used his hands when he talked, and while he stuttered a bit at the beginning he seemed to find his footing and spoke with a little more confidence.

Zuko was sitting on the floor in the living room, his laptop sitting on the small coffee table he’d found in an op-shop a few years ago and his back leaning against the couch that was pressed against the wall. This meant that when Izumi came shuffling out of their room with the blanket bundled up in her arms, they were able to see each other immediately. 

Zuko quickly shot an apologetic look at Piandao as he muted himself and then opened his arms for Izumi who happily stumbled over to him and dropped into his lap, her skin still uncomfortably warm against his own. He wrote down a couple notes as Piandao wrote them on the board he kept his camera trained on, and then passed Izumi his water bottle.

She stayed in his lap as he unmuted himself to answer another question, her hair hanging messily around her face. When it was someone else’s turn to answer a question he tugged the hair tie out of Izumi’s hair and turned her around so she was facing his laptop. She seemed to perk up at the sight of all the people and Zuko smiled as he gathered up all of her hair into his hands. 

He listened while he braided her hair, occasionally asking Izumi to press the unmute button for him so he could answer questions or just offer his opinion. He tied the end when he was done and kissed her head, wrinkling his nose at the sweatiness. When he looked back up at the screen, he saw Sokka quickly look away from something on his own screen and furrowed his eyebrows, checking over everyone else before deciding he was probably imagining things. 

Izumi eventually fell asleep, shortly before the class ended and everyone was thanking Piandao before logging off. Zuko stared at his screen for a moment before looking down at Izumi and using his sleeve to wipe away some of the sweat collected on her brow. She mumbled softly, but otherwise remained a dead weight in his arms as he carefully laid her out on the couch and got up to make her soup.


	6. Chapter 6

Sokka had strolled into the cafe just as Zuko had been setting down the latte across from Toph, the gentle tap of the mug against wood letting her know where it was placed on the table. He was just dropping her change into her outstretched hand when he noticed the other man approaching the table and felt his eyes widen at the sight of him.

He quickly fixed his gaze on the dirt embedded in the grooves of Toph's palm, trying to pull himself together before he turned into a stupid flustered mess.

But Zuko was weak and Sokka looked unfairly _good_ wearing a dark blue crop top and high waisted shorts, showing a slice of brown skin and making Zuko's skin feel too warm around his shirt collar.

"Zuko! Hi." He greeted with a smile, ignoring Toph's snort as she pocketed the handful of coins and took another sip of her mocha.

Zuko blinked, still waiting for his brain to reboot after seeing Sokka's exposed midriff. "Hi Sokka." He glanced at the latte he'd just put down and something clicked in his brain. "Oh- are you Toph's friend?"

Sokka's smile brightened as he looked down at Toph's slouched figure and then back up at Zuko and _agni his eyes were so pretty_. "Yeah, I am! How do you know her?"

"Oh me and Sparky go way back to, like, 10 minutes ago." Toph stated, looking up in their direction. "He was a little shit, and now we're friends." She punctuated the end of her sentence with a loud slurp of her near-empty mocha.

It was mostly just whipped cream and melted ice by now, and Zuko was just thinking that she'd be ordering another soon when her words caught up with him.

"We're friends?" Zuko feeling something warm pooling into his chest. It wasn't often that people wanted to be friends with him, as sad as it sounded; and Toph had decided that's what they were barely 10 minutes after they'd met.

Toph nodded, and Zuko wasn't sure how to feel about the surprised look on Sokka's face when he looked at her. 

"Huh, okay, that's cool- uhm, I guess I'll leave you guys to it? Just come find me or Suki if you need anything." He went to turn away, only to be stopped short by Sokka stepping closer.

"Wait, how's Izumi doing?"

Zuko blinked in surprise, not sure where that had come from. "Oh, it was just a headache and she slept it off, so she's okay now."

Sokka nodded, his expression soft and earnest as he said: "That's good- You just looked really worried yesterday, so I'm glad she's okay. She seems like a really good kid."

And, well, if Zuko wasn't already drawn in by Sokka's big brown eyes and ridiculously nice laugh, he thinks that would have done it.

"Wait- Who the fuck is Izumi? You can't just have a conversation in front of me without context, that's just ableist." Toph scoffed, raising her eyebrow at the pair of them accusingly. Zuko briefly wondered if being deaf and blind on one side meant he was exempt from being ableist before being snapped out of it by Sokka's snort of laughter.

"Sorry, Izumi's my daughter." Zuko hurried to explain, honestly feeling a little bad for talking like Toph wasn't there. "She was sick yesterday so I had to go pick her up from school. But, like I said, she's okay now."

Toph nodded, went to take another sip of her drink and then furrowed her eyebrows when nothing came up the straw. "Well, I'm glad your kid's alright Sparky- now can you get me another one of these? And," she twisted a little more so she was facing Sokka, and landed a well-aimed kick to his shin that made him yelp. "Are you actually going to sit down or are you going to stand there flirting with the waiter all afternoon?'

Zuko flushed but smiled at the sudden flustered look on Sokka's face as he quickly brushed past and sat across from Toph, kicking his bag under the table and then reaching for the latte that had probably cooled down a bit by now.

"I'll be right back with your drink Toph, it was lovely chatting Sokka." He nodded to them both, tucked his tray under his arm and spun on his heel to walk back to the counter where Suki was counting someones change.

She was done by the time he was putting the bar flap back down and rounded on him with a grin, immediately letting out a short laugh when he responded by spinning so she was on his left. 

"Oh c'mon you sourpuss," She teased, stepping around so she was back on his right. "It wasn't that bad was it? I know Toph can be a bit rough around the edges-"

"Actually, Toph and I get along fine." Zuko sniffed, turning to raise his eyebrows at her and then pressing the button for the coffee grinder as soon as she opened her mouth to respond. Unfortunately the coffee grinder only grinds for so long, so she happily continued in the following silence while he pressed the fresh coffee down flat. 

"Oddly, that doesn't surprise me, that's kinda why I sent you over there." His boss admitted, still ignoring her duties to follow him to the fridge where they kept the milk.

"You're evil," He hissed, closing the door a little harder than necessary to be dramatic. "What if we _hadn't_ gotten along?"

Suki smiled, hands behind her back while Zuko just stood there with a bottle of milk in his hands, looking betrayed. "You'd be back on dish duty."

-

Sokka and Toph were still sitting at their table by the time Zuko was untying his apron, the sky dark and the cafe near empty. The pair had been studying together but now Toph was just throwing torn up bits of napkin at Sokka, who was still diligently scribbling in his notebook and occasionally asking her questions. It was evident from the way they'd acted all afternoon that they'd known each other for awhile, and Zuko felt warm at the knowledge that the younger girl had accepted him into her circle so quickly.

"Suki? I'm heading home." He called, glancing over to where she was wiping down a table to get ready for closing. She nodded and blew him a playful kiss which Zuko rolled his eyes at.

  
"Oi, Sparky!" Toph's voice seemed too loud in the gentle atmosphere of the cafe at night, and Zuko paused by the door, leaning to face her.

"Yeah?"

"It was nice meeting you! Honestly, I've meaning to come meet you for awhile now because Suki talks about you a lot, but I never got around to it." She admitted, leaning back in her chair and scratching at her neck. "Anyway, bring that kid of yours next time; I'd love to meet her too." With that, the younger girl lifted her hand in a half wave and let him go, sticking one headphone in her ear and pressing something on her phone screen.

Zuko smiled. "Of course, I'm pretty sure she'd love to meet you. I'll see you tomorrow guys." He directed his attention to Sokka as he said the last bit, softening his smile when he met the other mans gaze, before he continued on his way out of the cafe. 

Summer was definitely here, evident in the warmth of the night air, and Zuko found himself excited for the hotter days to come, eventhough he usually ended up twice as sweaty thanks to his binder.

His mind wandered back to Sokka's outfit, and he figured he could handle a little extra sweatiness if it meant Sokka wore things like that more often. 

-

The bus ride to his apartment building was a familiar blur of fluorescent lights and passing buildings, before he was finally buzzing himself in and jogging to the door labelled 'landlord'. 

Ms Wu's apartment always smelled like spices and incense, and she kept a potted bonsai tree just outside of her door. She opened it before he even got a chance to knock, something that had originally unnerved him but was now expected. "Zuko! So lovely to see you, Izumi missed you today."

Zuko smiled politely and bowed in greeting before accepting her invitation to come inside, quickly kicking off his shoes before he crossed the threshold. "Thanks for looking after her today, was she good?"

Ms Wu smiled, leading him into her apartment. It was the same make up has his own: the front door opening into the kitchen, which was open to the living room with a window on one wall and shelves on the other. Along the back wall were two doors, one that would lead to a bedroom and one that would lead to a bathroom; except Ms Wu didn't have doors: she had curtains.

"Of course! Izumi is always good."

Zuko smiled wider, feeling a swell of pride rise in his chest. 

After their brief conversation, Ms Wu went to grab Izumi, who came running out of the bedroom to give him a big hug. He laughed at her enthusiasm before saying goodbye to Ms Wu (and thanking her again) and then taking his daughters hand and leading her up the stairs to their 3rd floor apartment.

"I made a friend today." He told her, sliding the key into the lock and twisting. Izumi made an excited noise and clapped as she bounced inside, knowing very well her dad didn't often make friends.

"Are they cool? Are they nice? Are you gonna invite them over?" She gasped, spinning to face him. "Are they gonna bring their own chair?"

Zuko laughed at her enthusiasm, and dropped his bag on the bench, stretching his arms above his head and feeling his shoulders and spine pop in response.

"Yes she's cool, I'm not too sure I'd describe her as _nice_ , and I don't think I've known her long enough to invite her over so that's also a no to the chair."

Izumi hmm-ed as she followed him into their room, climbing up onto the bed while Zuko headed for the dresser. "Why wouldn't you describe her as nice?"

Zuko thought about how to explain it while he opened a drawer, looking for a comfy shirt. "Well- She's loud and doesn't have much of a filter and she decided we were friends after I was a little too sarcastic while serving her; but she doesn't seem like a bad person." He found a shirt and sniffed it. "Also, she's friends with Suki so I don't think she could be a bad person; she's just a bit mean in a friendly way."

Izumi made a noise of consideration, while Zuko pulled off his binder and then slid on the shirt; breathing deeper without the restriction on his ribs.

"She sounds fun!" Izumi finally decided, bouncing on the mattress a bit and fixing her dad with a grin. Zuko returned it.

"Yeah she is- Her name's Toph by the way. And she seems pretty keen to meet you." 

At that, the 6 year old grinned wider, cheering in victory at the news. Zuko leaned back against the dressed and watched her jump on the bed with a smile, happy to see her so excited by something.

Eventually he noticed that the braid he'd put her hair in that morning was starting to unravel, and he remembered that she hadn't bathed the night before because she'd passed out in bed.

"Alright gremlin, it's bath time, you're all gross."

Izumi stopped bouncing with a pout. "I'm not gross!"

"Zu, bub, sunshine, you're sweaty and you've been wearing the same clothes for 2 days because I'm an awful father. You're gross."

She sighed, the dramatic child that she was (honestly, he doesn't know where she get's it from, couldn't possibly be himself), before flopping gracelessly onto the mattress. Zuko laughed. "Oh, am I supposed to carry you?"

Izumi shrugged in the adorably overdone and lopsided way that children shrugged and looked him in the eye. "I mean, clearly."

"Well, alright then Princess Izumi." He teased before scooping her up and throwing her over his shoulder. She shrieked in surprise before trailing off into giggles as he marched her out of the room and into the bathroom.

He carefully sat her down on the sink and then ducked back into their room to grab her some pyjamas, which ended up being clean undies and one of his old shirts because she liked how soft they were.

She was still sitting on the sink when he got back, swinging her legs and humming to herself while he ran the water and made faces at her while they waited for the tub to fill.

Per his daughters request, he added body wash to make bubbles and swished his hand through the water to really froth it up.

"Alright, you got this? Or do you want help?" He asked, as he twisted the taps off, knowing that sometimes she liked for him to wash her hair or just hang out with her in the bathroom so she wasn't alone.

"Can you please wash my hair for me?" She asked, tugging at one of the black strands as though he wouldn't know what she was talking about.

"Yeah, of course, but you're gonna have to actually get _in_ the bath first."

A few minutes later she was happily telling him all about sharks (one of her favourite animals) while Zuko made interested noises and lathered shampoo onto her head. He kept his movements gentle, softly scratching his nails over her scalp and making sure not to tug on any knots as his fingers ran though the midnight black of her hair, the same colour as his own. She shared most of her looks with him, though her eyes had always reminded him of Azula.

It amazed him sometimes, even 6 years later, that he'd managed to create this wonderful human being who loved anything that was yellow and talked his ear off about sharks any chance she got.

Somehow _he_ , the family failure and teenage fuck up, had managed to create and raise someone so smart and gorgeous and funny. Someone who was shy but didn't let it stop her from walking into class on her own, who came home one day and said she'd given her favourite scrunchie to one of the boys in her class because his hair tie had snapped. 

He still remembered when she was barely a bump on his torso, still just a mere idea of a person while he did chores around his new apartment building. She had been someone he'd shared his thoughts with while he was working, and who he'd loudly bitch to about annoying customers while he was washing his own hair in the very same bath he was washing hers in.

"Hey dad?"

"Yeah bub?"

"I love you."

Zuko let himself pretend he'd gotten shampoo in his eye as he gently rinsed Izumi's hair.

"I love you too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was straight up eating condensed milk out of a container while writing this but i think i deserve it bc i have had a rather shitty past few days and last night i cried more than i have in years 
> 
> anyway, i hope you enjoyed the chapter! thank you to everyone who comments and leaves kudos!!
> 
> \- T


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is brought to you by my dog, who i had to wrestle away from a lizard today (: 
> 
> it hissed at me when i tried to move it and i was scared bc bobtails are surprisingly scary for such little dudes so i figured having to use my entire body to shove/drag my labrador away was the better method
> 
> -
> 
> (me an 18 year old boy: *shrieks when a lizard hisses at me bc i poked it with a stick*)

Zuko woke, not with a start or with a shout, but with the sudden awareness that he was conscious; eyes snapping open to meet his darkened ceiling.

His sisters screams still echoed in his ears and burned across his skin, the nightmare fading into shaking hands and a pounding heart. He wondered if it would ever end.

Izumi was a blurry figure splayed out beside him, one of her legs sticking out from under the blanket while she snored into her pillow. In the dark, with only a hint of facial features and a mess of dark hair, she looked an awful lot like Azula from when she would climb into his bed after a nightmare of his own, and his eyes stung. 

Slowly, trying to make sure not to overestimate where her face was and smack her, he reached out and brushed a strand of hair off of her cheek, pausing when she mumbled something in her sleep before turning her face away.

He smiled weakly at the display before turning to face the ceiling again, eyes warm and itchy with tears. His skin was still burning, limbs feeling shaky and jelly like while his throat tightened as he tried to blink away the image of Azula turning to smoke under his fingers.

When the room grew stifling, he slipped out of his bed, grabbing his phone with a final glance to Izumi before he shut the door. 

His hands were steady as he poured himself a cup of tea, even as the adrenaline pumping through his body made them feel the opposite. He sniffled.

Nightmares about Azula were usually the hardest.

The ones about Ozai, he could handle. He'd been having them the longest, and now he could remind himself that he was far away in a different country, and Ozai had disowned him anyway.

The ones about Izumi scared him the most, but he always woke up with her right beside him. All he had to do was wrap his arms around her and hold her tight, knowing that she was safe in the waking world.

There was nothing he could do about Azula beyond telling himself there would be some record of her death, surely? But, he figured it was the uncertainty of it that scared him. There was no concrete way to reassure himself that she was okay or at least safe. She'd handed him his escape when she was 15, and she'd vanished from the world at 17. That means two entire years alone with their father, enduring god knows what, before something came along and swallowed her whole and stole her away.

That was what he dreamed about. Azula turning to him, face soft and young and tear stained, a hand reaching out before she was devoured by teeth and shadow and fire. He was never sure if the following scream was hers or his own, but it left him splintered and hazy for hours.

He carried his tea to the couch and curled up on the cushions, wiping his nose with the side of his hand before reaching for his laptop. It was purely habit when he typed Azula's name, a brief scan of the screen leading him to erasing the search. He stare the the blinking cursor for a moment before slowly typing in a new search, feeling silly and curious.

Luckily 'Sokka' was a unique name, because it made it fairly easy to find his Instagram page and Zuko was absolutely not above a little insta stalking to make himself feel better. 

Apparently, on top of being attractive and polite, Sokka was also a big dork with a lot of love for his friends. Despite his watering eyes and hurt heart, Zuko felt a swell of fondness at the sight of some of the posts.

The first one he clicked on was a small thread of Toph crouched in a garden by a pond, barefoot and licking a different rock in each photo. She had dirt smeared up her elbows and there was a dog sniffing the water in the background. The caption read _@melon_lord in her natural habitat_ and Zuko snorted. 

Further down, there was a single photo of Aang asleep in a chair. The lighting was soft and Sokka had drawn cat ears and whiskers over his face, a simple row of Z's for the caption.

Zuko sniffled again, making a face at the gross sound, before scrolling to the next post. 

It was a 10 photo thread of a group of people hanging out a park, and Zuko took his time to look through all of them, surprised to discover he knew everyone in them.

The first photo was of the nurse from Izumi's school: Katara. She was painting Aang's nails while Sokka's arm reached from out of frame to poke at her ear. She was wearing the tank top Sokka had worn when they’d first met, and her hair was falling past her face in waves as she leaned over Aang’s hand. Aang, himself, was wearing the bracelets he always wore at work (the ones that clattered together in time with his jingly anklet when he walked) along with a sunny yellow shirt tucked into dark orange hippie pants that seemed to wrap around most of his waist. His skin was pale in comparison to Katara’s brown skin, but their hands seemed to fit like puzzle pieces. 

The next photo was the blurred action shot of Katara turning to smack Sokka while Aang fell back in laughter. And Zuko almost choked on his tea.

The next was a short video of Sokka saying Toph’s name, and the younger girl (dressed in a baggy black shirt with ‘explicit content’ written on it in bleach) turning to pull a face that he then zoomed in on. The next three were clearly taken by someone else, because they were zoomed in as if taken from a bit of a distance. In them, Sokka was crouching by the duck pond, then reaching out to touch one of the ducks, and then a blurry shot of him running away from the duck. The fact that he was wearing some ridiculous hawaiian shirt and pink converse made Zuko smile as he wriggled into a more comfy position on the couch.

He clicked the arrow again to a photo of Suki, in a green bodysuit and black shorts, and Aang, both doing handstands on a set of monkey bars while Katara stood to the side with her hands on her hips.

The next two were videos of what appeared to be Suki and Katara playfully kick boxing, both of them having abandoned their shoes and tied their hair up; followed by Toph kicking both of their asses and then crowing about being the best fighter in the world.

The last photo was all of them, sitting down together in a kind-of-circle, their bags and shoes strewn about haphazardly. Sokka was at the end, being the one taking the photo, and his grin was breathtaking, tongue poking out between his teeth. Toph was flipping the camera off from the opposite end of the group, a dog laying beside her, while Aang held up a double peace sign and Katara just smiled with her arm wrapped around his waist. Suki was leaning back on her palms and sticking her tongue out, exposing the tongue piercing she’d gotten as a dare a few years ago. 

The caption read: _The Gaang 2020, what a bunch of losers_ , and something in Zuko twisted, his smile dimming.

He thought about Mai and Ty Lee and his sister, and how the four of them used to hang out at the shopping centre and terrorise the general population. 

The last time they'd hung out together, it had been in his uncles garage, two days before he and Azula had met in the park. Ty Lee had stood on her hands and tried to throw darts with her toes with varied accuracy, while Mai hit a bulls-eye every time (even after they made her spin around enough to be dizzy). Azula had gotten too competitive when they were playing Uno, and the cards had ended up going flying, but she'd calmed down after destroying them all at pictionary.

They'd talked about 10 Things I Hate About You, and debated whether or not Cameron was a good guy. And then, when Zuko had brought up the fact that it was based off of a Shakespeare comedy he'd been pelted with snacks and tackled into the couch by Ty Lee and Azula. 

Sitting there, in the darkness of his living room, with only the kitchen light behind him, it was easy to remember the sound of them laughing above him while Azula threatened to use his head as the dart board next.

He wondered if Mai still had the photo of the two of them trying to smother him with pillows.

He missed them.

Agni, he missed them so much it felt like a knife to the guts. 

Izumi would have loved them.

A sudden surge of emotion made him close his laptop and shove it to the other end of the couch before pulling his knees to his chest. He let himself cry, unable to hold back the sobs even if he tried, and told himself he'd be okay eventually.

-

He was still sitting there, red-eyed and sleepy, when his alarm went off at 6.

He went through his morning workout in a haze, thoughts muddled and cloudy and filled with the phantom memory of perfume and laughter.

At least he was feeling more human by the time Izumi's alarm went off, but he still took a deep breathe before actually opening the bedroom door.

The room was hazy with shadows and sleep as he crept towards the dresser and got changed into his work clothes, taking another deep breath to make sure his binder wasn't too tight before turning to the bed. The mattress dipped under his weight when he sat down, and he snorted when Izumi slid towards him. He poked her gently. "Izumi."

She mumbled but didn't move. He grinned and poked her again. "Zu? Bub, it's time to get up."

Another grumble, accompanied with an annoyed scowl and a wriggle. He poked her again and this time watched as she jolted away, before poking her once more. With as much sass as a 6 year old could muster, Izumi snapped her head up and glared at him - a look that would be much more effective if she weren't sporting bed head and pillow creases on her cheek. 

They never exchanged words this early in the morning, instead he'd raised his eyebrow and she'd scowled and they'd stay like that until one of them cracked. 

The thirty second stare off was a vital part of their morning, ending when Zuko finally grinned and Izumi groaned dramatically and rolled out of the bed.

(While she was still too short to get _onto_ the bed without his help, she had no problems just throwing herself off in the morning. Zuko still wasn't sure if he should be concerned about it.)

Wordlessly, he handed her one of his old shirts and a pair of denim shorts and then helped her get changed into them, before tying her hair back with a sparkly gold scrunchie; smiling at the vaguely confused and sleepy expression she wore every morning.

"How'd you sleep?" He finally asked, figuring she'd had enough time to wake up properly. She tended to get overwhelmed when he asked her questions too soon after she woke up, and then she would huff and be grouchy so he'd be grouchy right back and then they'd both end up in a bad mood for the rest of the morning.

Instead of huffing, Izumi shrugged, rubbing her eye. "Good, had a dream about a sheep."

Zuko laughed in surprise, feeling some of the fog in his head fade away. "A sheep?"

She looked at him and shrugged. "A sheep."

With a fond shake of his head, he ruffled her bangs with his fingers and kissed her forehead. "Alright, well I know it's a Saturday so you probably want to sleep in, but I'm working at the cafe all day today and I thought you'd want to tag along."

The 6 year old nodded determinedly, declaring that she was excited to meet his friend before skipping out of the room and to the dining table. 

Zuko watched her go, his smile suddenly feeling too fake as a heaviness settled back in his ribs before he pushed it down and followed after her.

He went through the motions of making cereal, trying to hide his confusion when he snapped back into focus partway through putting the milk back in the fridge. For a moment he wondered if he should leave Izumi with Ms Wu instead, not wanting her to see him possibly stumble his way through work, but then he imagined her outrage and decided against it. 

He sipped from his coffee that he didn't remember making and then grabbed a cloth to wipe down the kitchen island to give him something to do with his hands. Izumi watched him with furrowed eyebrows, cheeks bulging with unchewed cereal.

He raised and eyebrow at her. "What?"

She chewed slowly, mouth still half full when she finally responded. "Why are you cleaning the bench? You never clean the bench."

Confronted, Zuko paused. "I clean the bench! And don't talk with your mouth full, how many times do I have to tell you-"

"Not at breakfast." Izumi retorted, after dramatically swallowing her mouthful.

"Well- I didn't wipe it down last night. So. I'm doing it now." He huffed, giving the counter one more cursory wipe before turning to drop the cloth in the sink. "Why do you always feel the need to question me?"

Izumi shrugged, digging her spoon back into her bowl, yellow nails bright against the metal. "Because you're weird."

The kitchen was silent for a few seconds before Zuko scoffed in fake-offence, shaking his head when Izumi burst into giggles.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just want to say that Smellerbee is one of my favourite minor characters in atla and that's why she's mentioned in this fic so much; i promise she's not the only other person who works at Kyoshi Cafe
> 
> i ended up losing a chunk of my writing when my laptop died before i could save my progress, and even though it wasn't that much it was still enough to throw me off and lose a lot of my motivation which is why this chapter took a little longer to come out )): also i'm sorry if it's messy! my brain's a little wonky at the moment

Introducing his daughter to Toph was possibly not one of Zuko's best ideas. 

It couldn't be avoided though, partly because Izumi was practically buzzing with excitement at the thought of meeting a new person, and partly because of the way Toph marched up to the register and slammed $10 down onto the counter with a demand for a muffin and a mocha. 

With a sigh, he'd read her order back to her out of habit, and then watched in resignation as her grin sharpened. Zuko had known Toph for a day, and he already knew that smile meant bad news for him.

"Damn, I wish I'd known it was you Sparky, I would'a been a little less polite."

"How is it that I've only known you for a day and you're already torturing me?" He grumbled, digging into the register for her change. The younger girl had stuck her tongue out in a brilliant display of maturity, when Izumi finally seemed to pick up on the familiar way they were interacting.

"Excuse me!" She called, leaning onto the counter in an effort to see Toph better. 

Toph blinked lazily and turned her head to show she was listening, keeping her gaze trained somewhere above Izumi's head. 

"Are you my dad's friend that he was talking about?" Izumi asked, wide-eyed with excitement. 

And from there it had been downhill. The two had chatted while Zuko was stuck doing his job, making Toph's iced mocha; and Izumi must have decided betraying her father was the quickest way to make friends because she told Toph that Zuko had described her as "mean but nice" and "loud".

Luckily, much like the day before, instead of being offended Toph had just laughed. It was a loud and free sort of noise, the kind of laugh that meant trouble and good-natured teasing.

Once she'd been given her order, Toph managed to convince him to let Izumi sit with her. Zuko had been cautious about it, because as nice as Toph seemed he still didn't know her that well, and that had lead to the introduction to a newer side of Toph.

"I promise nothing will happen to her." Her face had been stone-serious, tone conveying that she wasn't joking or exaggerating; and when he finally agreed, she'd broken into a softer, excited smile and had stomped off to her table with Izumi in tow.

Without the distraction of Izumi's chatter and questions between customers though, Zuko felt himself drifting.

He kept seeing his sister in every black haired girl that walked in and Mai in every glint of steel; kept hearing Ty Lee in the bells on Aang's anklet; and when a customer had offhandedly told him his tea tasted like it was made at the Jasmine Dragon, he'd almost dropped the pot.

By the time a concerned Suki was reminding him that it was time for his break, he'd almost forgotten where he was.

The next 20 minutes of relentless bullying from Toph and Izumi shouldn't have been as welcoming as they were; but Toph's odd charm paired with his daughters open delight did wonders for clearing his head and distracting him.

That and the bruise he was developing on his arm from where Toph kept 'affectionately' punching him.

-

"Hey there hot stuff."

Zuko blinked back into his body, barely registering the compliment as he looked up. "Hey, the usual?"

Sokka smiled, leaning forward to rest his arms against the darkly coloured counter. "Of course, you make a damn good latte."

"I'm not that good, it's just putting ingredients into a cup." He grumbled, blindly accepting Sokka's $5 note a he typed in the payment.

The other man sighed wistfully and moved around the counter so sit on of the bar stools, out of the way. "And yet."

Zuko snorted, grounding himself with the familiar motions of coffee making, and the unfamiliar burning sensation of Sokka's gaze on him. Did Sokka know that three of his friends were also in the cafe> Maybe he didn't? That _would_ explain why he was over here watching Zuko make coffee instead of talking to them.

Then again, Suki was dead to the world around her, fully immersed in paperwork; and Aang was being taught how to make breakfast wraps in the kitchens. 

_Maybe,_ he thought, with a quick glance to Sokka. _He just likes you?_

He couldn't help the warm feeling that bubbled in his chest at the thought and, in a sudden act of boldness, decided to pour a heart into the cup instead of the tulip he usually went for. 

"Y'know," he started, gently setting the mug down. "Toph's over there scheming with my daughter."

Sokka followed his gaze, shoulder shaking in quiet laughter at the sigh of Izumi making wide gestures with her hands while Toph looked on, enraptured. 

God, Zuko hoped she wasn't talking about the time he'd locked the keys in the apartment and had to climb through the neighbours window and through their own to unlock it from the inside. 

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Sokka asked, turning back with a half-smile. "What knows what that terror is teaching your impressionable young child." Sokka picked up his latte and paused, eyes softening around the edges at the latter art before he took a delicate sip.

Zuko smiled, still watching as Izumi drew a square in the air. Yeah she was definitely telling the window story. 

"I dunno, Izumi told Toph off _twice_ for using 'naughty words' while I was on my break; so if anything, I feel bad that Toph keeps getting scolded by a 6 year old."

Sokka laughed, loud and clear, a little higher in pitch than Zuko had been expecting. 

After a second, Zuko realised he was smiling stupidly at the other man, and quickly looked away to hide it, busying himself with reorganising the sugar packets.

"Sokka!" A loud voice startled the pair of them, frantic jingling and a flash of dark green the only warning Zuko got as Aang launched himself across the counter and dragged Sokka into a hug. With a tired sigh, Zuko reached over and grabbed the back of Aangs shirt, hauling him backwards until his yellow converse were touching the ground again. 

"Aang, you can't just jump the counter. We have customers, dude."

"So... if there aren't customers I can jump the counters?"

Zuko blew his hair out of his face. "No."

"You and Suki do it all the time!"

"I've worked her the longest and Suki literally owns the joint, we can do what we want."

"Sokka, you agree that I should be allowed to jump the counters if Zuko and Suki do it, right?"

Sokka looked startled to suddenly be involved in the conversation and put his hands up in surrender. "Nuh-uh, I'm not getting in the middle of this. I came to hang out with a pretty barista, not argue with one."

Zuko froze. _Did Sokka mean him? Surely not?_

All thoughts of pink sweaters and second-hand dart boards were shoved out of his mind and replaced with warm brown eyes and a smile that always seemed to soften when it was trained on him. _Maybe?_

"Pretty barista? Aang echoed, looking around with his eyebrows furrowed. "But the only one here is... _Oh_." The younger boy grinned mischievously. "Are you talking about _Zuko_?"

Sokka choked on his next sip of coffee, eyes wide in shock like he hadn't realised he'd be called out on his words. 

With his heart thundering in his ears and his face burning, Zuko rounded on his coworker and put his hands on his hips, trying to hide how flustered he was feeling.

"Wait, aren't you supposed to be with Jin? I'm pretty sure she doesn't appreciate that you'd just disappeared."

Aang turned sheepish. "I may have heard Sokka and got really excited."

At that Zuko raised his eyebrows. "So, you mean to say that you _ran out_ on the woman who shamelessly through a spatula at a customer on her first day just because he made me cry?"

(It had been his second shift after getting back from 'maternity leave' (as Suki called it. Zuko called it quitting and then asking for his job back a year later.) and he was still getting used to being away from Izumi so instead of biting back when a customer yelled he just... cried. A little bit.) 

Aang rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, turning his attention back to Sokka as he pointed a thumb over his shoulder and backed away towards the kitchens. "I should probably get bac, it was nice seeing you! Katara said she's making dinner tonight."

Zuko tilted his head as Aang disappeared through the curtain. "Katara?"

The school nurse. The woman in the photos painting Aang's nails.

Sokka smiled, a warmth in his expression that Zuko hadn't seen before, it almost made him smile as well. "My baby sister."

 _Baby_ sister.

The image of Azula's furious and tear stained face in the hospital all those years ago hit him out of nowhere and he self-consciously brushed part of his bangs over his eye.

"You guys are close then?" He asked, noticing Suki approaching. She was out of uniform so he almost didn't realise it was her from the distance.

Sokka nodded, taking another sip of his coffee. The heart was smudges, though still intact, and Zuko's heart squeezed a little when he remembered that Sokka usually stirfed the foam before drinking. "Yeah, we share an apartment and everything. Our dad lives with his husband in the South Pole, so we're all we've got family-wise. Makes us closer."

"Aw, I thought we were your family Boomerang!" Suki teased, throwing an arm around Sokka's neck and messing up his hair with her free hand. Sokka squawked and shoved her away, bits of his hair sticking up and frizzy from Suki's assault. 

"Sorry, we're the only _blood_ family we've got." He corrected, pulling a face at Zuko, who hid his laugh behind his hand. Suki beamed and kissed his cheek noisily before ducking underneath the bar flap and patting Zuko's shoulder.

"Speaking of, we're still up for family dinner tonight yeah?"

When he nodded, she disappeared into the kitchen. Probably to ask Jin the same thing.

Sokka was wiping at his cheek with the back of his hand when Zuko turned back, and he leaned forward on the counter so they were eye-to-eye when Sokka looked up. Agni, Zuko would never get enough of those eyes.

"So, you think I'm pretty?" His voice was teasing, but his heart was hammering against his ribs. Stomach twisting at the thought that _maybe he was only joking-_

"Yep."

Well, that was straightforward. Zuko's eyes widened as he stared at Sokka in surprise, almost certain he was bright red. His hair was definitely a mess and he had coffee stained on his apron- not to mention his face. Was Sokka _blind?_

"You're not to bad yourthelf." He blurted, silently cursing himself for letting his lisp slip through. It happened when he was nervous, okay?

Sokka grinned, apparently delighted, as he leaned into Zuko's space. "Was the a lisp?"

"What? No. You're hearing things." Zuko denied, pushing himself away from the counter and cursing his existence. Sokka laughed.

"No! It's cute, don't leave!"

Except now there was an awkward looking teenager standing at the register, so Zuko had a few minutes to calm himself down. Except they ordered ginseng tea so Zuko figured today was just supposed to fuck with him.

 _Lucky to be born, my ass._ He thought miserably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> western australia just got it's first case of covid in 10 months so most of the southwest is on lockdown, which sucks bc this week is the first week of the school year and a lot of schools are going to end up falling behind- highkey glad i graduated last year and don't have to go through dealing with covid on top of highschool again
> 
> anyway, thanks for reading, probably by the time i actually publish this chapter the lockdown will be over.
> 
> \- T


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you guys do not understand the feeling of relief that i am feeling over finally finishing this chapter. 
> 
> (also, a warm thank you to @WhenYourFavouriteDies for helping me find the motivation to get back to writing)

Zuko's always been a little impulsive. He doesn't always think things through, just deals with whatever consequences there are.

Azula always called him an idiot for it.

As he knocked on Sela’s apartment door, he started to think his sister might be right.

* * *

_"So, you think my lisp is cute?" Zuko questioned, eyebrow raised disbelievingly as he continued where their conversation had left off. Sokka smiled, clearly happy to have Zuko's attention back on him and sat up straighter._

_"Yep, it even suits you a little bit I think."_

_"Really?" He deadpanned._

_"Really! And you can't argue with me because I'm also cute." The other man fluttered his eyelashes dramatically and it took a lot of willpower on Zuko's part not to laugh._

_Instead, he hummed, not quite answering, and finally did crack a smile at Sokka's offended gasp. "Hey! You said I was good looking earlier!"_

_Zuko grinned, brushing his hair out of his face as he crowed: "No I didn't! I said you 'aren't too bad yourself'_

_"Which is just a snarky way of saying 'You're also pretty sir, I would like to hold your hand'."_

_"You're ridiculous."_

_"Ridiculously pretty." Sokka shot back with a grin._

* * *

After a few seconds of awkward hall-loitering, the handle rattled and the door swung open.

“Zuko? What’s up?” Sela asked, eyes tired but soft with affection. Zuko smiled back awkwardly, fiddling with a strand of hair that had come out of his ponytail.

“Uh, I wanted to know if I could borrow a chair? Please.”

Sela furrowed her eyebrows, her head tilted in understandable confusion.. “Why? I thought Jin and Suki had their own?”

“I, uh, I have someone else over.” He stuttered, avoiding meeting her eyes by picking at the paint on her door frame.

* * *

_"Dad! Mr Sokka said he wants you to paint his nails!" Izumi announced._

_"Really?"_

_Sokka shrugged a little sheepishly, Toph looked oddly delighted at this turn of events. "Why not?"_

* * *

“Someone who isn’t Suki or Jin? Zuko Sozin, do you have a _boy_ over?” Sela whispered conspiratorially, lips quirked in mischief and green eyes narrowed playfilly. Zuko groaned, and quickly glanced back at his own door, hoping Sokka couldn’t hear them.

“I- maybe, but it’s not what it looks like! I’m just painting his nails.”

Sela snorted and stepped back a bit, opening her door wider as an invitation. Zuko being Zuko, continued to hover in the hallway until she actually gestured for him to come in with a fond sigh of exasperation.

She let him pick a chair, laughing when he couldn’t pick between two that were completely identical.

“Just give it back, y’hear?” Sela ordered playfully, when he did finally pick one. Zuko smiled gratefully, adjusting his grip on the furniture as he headed back out the door.

“Of course, I’ll bring it back first thing tomorrow morning.”

She shooed him away and Zuko took the three steps across the hall to his own apartment and kicked the door a few times in an attempt at knocking. 

The door opened a second later, to Jin’s happy smile and Zuko automatically smiled back, something fluttering in his chest at the sound of Sokka’s laughter from somewhere behind her.

* * *

_Izumi suddenly clapped. "Oh! Dad, he should come over with Aunty Jin and Aunty Suki! You can paint his nails then! Mr Sokka you should come over!"_

_Sokka looked from Izumi to Zuko with something like panic in his expression before awkwardly muttering: "I mean, if it's okay with your dad. I wouldn’t want to intrude."_

_Finally Toph cracked, letting out a loud peal of laughter that ended in a snort. "Man, somewhere in the past, 15 year old Snoozles just got_ chills _."_

* * *

“Welcome back.” Jin joked, stepping aside to let him in before closing the door behind him.

“I picked my colours!” Sokka cheered, smiling at Zuko from where he was standing next to Izumi, who was attempting to remember the order of the rainbow with the nail polish bottles.

“Oh, good.” Zuko nodded as he slid the chair next to Suki’s. “But I’m not doing anything fancy because I need to get it done before Suki gets here or she’ll ask me to do hers too and I can't be bothered.”

* * *

_“Well, it’th okay with me.” He paused, taking a deep breath and trying to focus on sharpening his s’s. “Just ask Suki for details and stuff.”_

_Sokka smiled at him, and Toph fake gagged. “Snoozles, I can’t even_ see _and I know you’re being dopey.”_

* * *

So, now Sokka was in his apartment, fawning over nail polish colours with his 6 year old daughter while Jin texted Suki live updates.

As absurd as the situation was, Zuko couldn’t deny that it was kind of nice having someone new in his apartment. The extra chair was a surprisingly nice addition to the table, and when Sokka sat down in it Zuko couldn’t deny the flood of _want_ that filled him.

He silently gestured for the bottles of polish, taking note of the shades of blue and grey, before he started shaking them. Jin was sitting with her knees pulled up, pulling faces at Izumi who giggled happily and poked her tongue out.

“Alright, hand.” He ordered, realising a second too late that he’d used the parental tone he used on Izumi. If Sokka noticed, he didn’t show it, happily giving his hand to Zuko and relaxing his fingers before he even had to ask.

“Do you know when Suki’s getting here?” Zuko asked, glancing up at Jin as he scraped the excess paint off of the brush before gently laying it down on Sokka’s thumb nail. 

Though Zuko had directed his question to Jin, it was Sokka who answered. “Her and Katara said they were gonna stay back late to help pack up the gym.”

Zuko nodded, gently rotating Sokka’s hand as he painted the rest of his nails a light blue, keeping his middle finger bare. Gently, he blew on the paint to help speed up the drying process, briefly growing dizzy from the smell before he gestured for Sokka’s other hand.

“Dad?”

“Mm?”

“What are we having for dinner?”

“You’ll have to ask Jin bub, her and Suki are in charge of that on family dinner nights.” Zuko answered absentmindedly, using the edge of his own nail to neaten up the paint on the nail he’d just painted. He held Sokka’s hand gently, lifting it closer to his face to inspect his nails for any other mishaps before putting it back down and reaching for the grey.

“Aunty Jin?”

Jin let out a soft breath of laughter. “Izumi?”

“What are we having for dinner?”

Jin hummed. “I’m not actually sure, I think Suki’s gonna surprise us.”

There was a moment of silence and Zuko quickly glanced over to Izumi, who had already turned to him with another question ready to be asked. Zuko beat her to it.

“Yes bub, you can have a cookie, but give me a sec okay?”

Izumi grinned and nodded, wriggling in a way that told Zuko she was sitting on her hands, an action she did when she got particularly excited. Zuko didn’t know why she did that, but it was endearing.

When he was done with Sokka nails, he held both hands in his own and blew on them gently, absentmindedly brushing his thumbs over Sokka’s knuckles as he let go. “All done, what do you think?”

When there was no answer, Zuko looked up to see Sokka looking at him with wide eyes, his cheeks darkened slightly in something that could have been a blush. Zuko tilted his head, something starting to flutter in his gut when he began to understand Sokka’s expression.

“Sokka?”

Sokka blinked, startled and quickly looked down at his hands, holding them up and spreading his fingers with a sudden grin of admiration. “Oh wow, I love them!”

Zuko smiled, remembering his promise to Izumi as he pushed himself out of his chair. “I’m glad.”

When he turned back around after grabbing the container of cookies on the bench, he saw Jin leaning over to whisper something in Izumi’s ear and watched as her eyes grew wide. Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, he started back towards the table.

“Mr Sokka, you _like-like_ my _dad_?” Izumi asked, equal parts awed and grossed out; probably more about the idea of cooties than someone liking her dad. Jin burst into laughter, a breathy sound that started off sharp and faded out into a wheeze, and Zuko felt himself flush as Sokka started stuttering in surprise. Neither got the chance to react verbally before Zuko’s door was thrown open with a loud rustling of plastic bags.

“Alright I’m finally here and I have honey soy chicken and fried rice.” Suki announced, stopping just inside the doorway and taking in the scene: Jin hunched over laughing, Izumi staring wide-eyed at Sokka who was still frozen mid-stutter, and Zuko just standing there useless with a container in his hands and his skin burning.

Suki reached behind herself and kicked the door closed, eyeing them all in confusion. “Alright, what did I miss?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapters may take a little longer to come out now that i'm writing them from scratch, but i do have a lot of them outlined! my insecurities about how the story was coming along got in the way and ended up leading to some major procrastination and writers block, but some really nice comments i got really lit that fire in my heart again so here we are. 
> 
> as always, thank you for reading, i hope i get the next chapter to you quicker than this one x
> 
> -
> 
> ps. my tumblr is @capt_snoozles if you wanna see some of my shitty art


	10. this chapter is like vanilla filling: boring, but it gets the job done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a short one today lads, it's basically a semi-fluffy nonsense chapter but i hope you enjoy it anyway
> 
> -
> 
> shoutout to @Goorin for giving me the idea of Izumi making Toph something out of textured fabric in this chapter  
> and @reyyy for the inspiration behind Izumi saying "you like-like my dad??" to Sokka in the last chapter xx

The next few weeks were _nice._

Sokka was invited to a few more family dinners, not quite understanding the gravity of being asked to bring his own chair (a simple wooden one from his and Katara's dining set) one night until Suki had explained what it meant. That had been the first time Sokka had kissed him, much to Izumi's dismay - cooties, apparently, were a deadly disease.

Toph, eventually, was given the same honour (her chair being an oddly shaped metal contraption, designed for optimal body drapage, that she'd made herself) and Izumi had _insisted_ their chairs had to be next to each other. Izumi had later taken advantage of her art classes to craft simple animals and pictures out of various fabrics instead of marker, so that Toph could 'see' them. The first had been a poorly constructed felt frog that Toph had stuck to her chair as soon as she acquired some glue. Zuko spotted her running her fingers over the rough fabric on more than one occasion, face soft with wonder. 

Zuko couldn't stop the swell of affection that rose in his chest whenever he saw the new additions to their dining table. (As awful as Toph's was to look at, the steadily growing collection of felt animals was immeasurably sweet.)

Sokka took Zuko on a date to a diner, and Zuko returned the favour by taking him on a park date. Toph, later that same week, managed to drag him to the same park during his lunch break to feed the ducks and talk shit about society.

He still googled Azula's name every morning, still spent some nights staring at the ceiling and running through his finances in his head, but it didn't weigh him down as much as it used to. 

-

"Okay we need flour and yeast." Zuko muttered, going over the list in his head and keeping his grip on Izumi's hand tight so she wouldn't wander off. Zuko did not want a repeat of his sauce aisle breakdown. Luckily, Izumi was happy to hold his hand and bounce along beside him, pointing out interesting people or weird looking foods as they scoured the grocery store for their afternoon baking plans. 

Beside him, Izumi suddenly let out an excited gasp and pointed off to the distance. "Miss Katara! Dad, look, it's Miss Katara from school!"

Zuko looked over to where she was pointing, his gaze landing on a woman in denim overalls, her dark brown pulled back into a ponytail while she thoroughly inspected a mango. Beside her, Aang was reaching for another, laughing at something that caused her to shove him good-naturedly. 

Caught briefly off guard, Izumi was able to slip out of his grasp and run over to the produce section, her own ponytail bouncing in time with her movements. Zuko cursed and hurried after her, hoping to reach her before she accosted her school nurse and his coworker. 

No luck- Izumi was tiny and determined, and Zuko was tired and had shitty depth perception that had him gently bumping into everyone's trolleys.

"Hi Miss Katara! Hi Mr Aang!" She was chirping excitedly, waving at them both. Katara turned in surprise, but smiled at the energetic primary schooler. She crouched down so they were at eye level and held her hand out for a handshake that Izumi enthusiastically returned.

"Hey Izumi, where's your dad?"

Zuko couldn't believe that this was how he was going to meet his boyfriends sister. "I'm right here, sorry- Izumi Sozin, what have I told you about running off?"

The 6 year old grinned at him, all faux innocence as she tucked her hands behind her back and rocked on her heels. "That you don't want to have another break down in the sauce aisle?"

Zuko, for the briefest of seconds, considered abandoning his traitor daughter in the middle of the shopping centre. Aang laughed, and even Katara let out a surprised snort. Izumi beamed, clearly pleased at having entertained them. 

"Zuko right?" Katara asked, standing back up and holding out her hand to him. "I know we've met in the past, but that was before you made my brother go all stupid and moon-eyed." 

Her eyes crinkled with mischief, smile just as endearingly lopsided as her brothers, and Zuko felt himself flush as he shook her hand. She had a bracelet wrapped around her wrist, lettered beads woven between the yellow thread that spelled out AANG.

"Uh, yeah, it's nice to meet you officially as Sokka's sister. And Aang talks about you all the time, so, yeah."

Katara's eyebrows lifted, her smile softening as she fiddled with the bracelet around her wrist. "He does? That's sweet."

Her voice was so warm with affection that Zuko almost felt like he was intruding on something- never mind the fact that they were in the middle of a grocery store and Zuko was still wearing the pants he'd slept in. 

Aang had dropped to a crouch, showing a wide-eyed Izumi magic tricks with a marble.

Katara looked down at them and then back up at Zuko, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear, eyes suddenly determined. "Actually, I know this is a bit last minute, but would you like to join us for dinner? I'd really like to get to know you better, beyond Sokka and Aang's stories. You're welcome to bring Izumi."

Zuko stared at her, thrown. What is it with these people and wanting to get to know him? He'd guessed they were a close knit group of friends based on Sokka's Instagram and Toph's too-wild-to-be-untrue stories, it was startling that they were apparently willing to include him in their ranks.

Izumi was now explaining how sharks work to Aang, who was nodding along very seriously despite his lips quirking up every few seconds. Katara was still watching him with a steady gaze, brown eyes warm and gentle and familiar. 

"Um, sure? As long as you're sure about it."

Katara suddenly beamed and, unlike Sokka, she kept her teeth firmly hidden behind her lips. "Of course! I know Sokka will be excited to see you, and I really am looking forward to learning more about you."

She fished out her phone and got him to add her number to her contacts, giving him a quick rundown of the time and menu, before offering a parting high-five to Izumi and heading off in the opposite direction.

Zuko was still thinking of the interaction in his head as they checked out, Izumi proudly holding the box of yeast while he carried everything else.

He'd been friends with Suki for 6 years and never managed to meet any of her childhood friends, and now suddenly they kept popping up everywhere. It was bizarre and hilarious and so unbelievably welcome. 

-

"Okay Chef Sunflower." Zuko started, hands on his hips. "Are you ready to learn how to make bread?"

She nodded enthusiastically, bouncing a little where she stood on her chair so she could actually see what was happening. "Yes Chef Dad."

Zuko paused. "Wait, why do you get to be Chef Sunflower while i'm stuck with the boring name?"

Izumi shrugged. "Just 'cause."

"Oh, just 'cause, huh?" Zuko teased, poking her in the ribs and grinning when Izumi giggled and shied away, nodding with entirely too much confidence for someone so tiny and throwable.

"I'm downgrading you to Chef _Zumi_. Now, to make bread-" He carefully explained the steps, using simpler terms for things so she'd understand them better, and showing her the different measurement cups and spoons. She was a very attentive learner, pointing at things and asking questions when she was curious or didn't understand. And, most importantly, she kept her hands to herself when he demonstrated how to do things. 

He let her knead the dough, showing her how to cover her hands in flour to stop them from sticking. She copied his actions with the clumsiness of a little kid, and Zuko smiled when she clapped the excess flour off of her palms. 

"Now, we have to cover it up and leave it somewhere warm to let it rise."

They watch cartoons on Zuko's laptop for an hour, before Zuko pulls back the tea towel. The dough had risen to twice it's previous size and Izumi gasped in delight.

"Alright, now here's one of the fun parts." He started, lifting Izumi back up onto her chair and then rolling up his sleeves. "You get to punch it."

Izumi blinked at him, before an excited grin bloomed on her face. The 6 year old wasted no time as she turned back to the bowl and happily slammed her fist into it, face lit up in delight like Zuko had hoped. 

He guided her through the kneading process again, telling her all about the first time Jin taught him how to bake, how she was gentle and teasing and how he burned the first three batches because he kept turning the oven on too high. "That was back when you were only a baby." He added on, smiling at he look of wonder on her face. 

They made bread rolls and a loaf of bread that Zuko gently braided braided, which was another small lesson for Izumi that lead to him having a collection of poorly woven braids in his hair by the time the bread was cooked. 

"You look very pretty dad." 

"Thank you bub." 

-

They got to Sokka and Katara's around 7, where Izumi immediately falls in love with a very large and fluffy dog introduced as Appa, while Zuko quietly delights in the cat that winds his way between his legs and arches into his hand when Zuko reaches down to pat him. Apparently his name is Momo and Zuko never wants to put him down once he's in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! if this seemed rushed or out of place, that will be because this was entirely a filler chapter dedicated to passing time and kinda establishing some relationships. The next few chapters are going to be very plot heavy (im so excited) so i wanted to get this out of the way now, so that i wasn't trying to add it in throughout everything else that will be happening. 
> 
> Is that lazy? probably, but i've never finished a multi-chapter story before and this is me doing my damned fucking hardest to make that happen. I hope you enjoyed anyway (:
> 
> p.s. this was loosely based off of when my mum used to let me and my sister help her bake when we were little. (by 'help' i mean we watched from the other side of the bench and then played paper-scissors-rock to see who got to lick the spoon and who got to lick the bowl if she was making sweets)
> 
> WAIT ALSO- here's a list of Izumi's nicknames bc i think about it too much
> 
> Zuko: 'Zumi, sunshine, bub, traitor  
> Toph: Bubbles  
> Sokka: Squish! (inspired by my sister, who calls her baby 'squish' (which reminds me, partway through writing the last chapter my sister had a baby :D ))  
> Katara & Aang: Iz, sweetie  
> Jin & Suki: sunshine, sunflower, m'lady


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i got a few comments guessing who was gonna be in this chapter and i am delighted to say that none you were right!
> 
> \- 
> 
> I’m not gonna lie, i edited most of this chapter while i was tipsy (i am also publishing it while tipsy, not a lot of time has passed between these events) so if there are mistakes or just weird sentences that’s why *finger guns*

Azula gets swallowed by smoke and ash, and Zuko's eyes snapped open, his heart in his throat and his skin burning. 

The nightmare had hit him harder than usual- it had been awhile since the last one. Whether that was due to the sudden influx of goodness in his life, or just mere coincidence he wasn't sure.

He escaped into the living room, phone in hand and a longing in his chest as he held the device to his good ear and listened to the dial tone. His hands were shaking and he took a deep breath to steady them, eyes burning. 

It was still dark, the streetlights outside cutting through the gaps in the blinds and leaving stripes of orange light over the couch. A single beam glinted off of one of the photos on the wall, 14 year old Azula poking her tongue out at the camera and making Zuko's throat tighten as he fought off tears. 

The call rang out and Zuko absently listened to the voicemail beep, staring into nothing for a second before hanging up and lowering his arm. 

He made tea. Some generic brand of black tea that tasted wrong in his mouth and left him grimacing down at his cup, so he poured it out and grabbed the jasmine instead. The floral smell cleared his head enough for him to wonder why he even had black tea in the first place. Then he remembered Jin, poking at him and demanding a tea that wasn't so flowery. One she could _put milk in, Zuko, jeez._

He grinned a little at the memory, hands steady when he took his next sip of tea. He was wondering if she would be awake, when his phone buzzed, the screen lighting up with a text that made him reach for his phone immediately.

**Sokka <3**

_Hey, u ok?? it's p late to be calling_

Zuko grimaced, suddenly realising that yes, it _was_ pretty late to be randomly calling someone. The feeling from his nightmare was still lurking in the corners of his mind, taunting him with pain that only surfaced in his sleep these days. 

**Me**

_I'll be fine, sorry if I woke you up._

_I shouldn't have called._

**Sokka** <3

_nono, what's up?_

_do u need me to call u back?_

Zuko ran a finger over the edge of his cup, weighing the options in his head before sighing and typing out his response. 

**Me**

_...if that's okay._

He grabbed his cup and his phone and lowered himself to the floor, leaning against the kitchen cabinets and waiting. 

Seconds later, his phone buzzed with an incoming call, Sokka's name and face appearing on the screen. He pressed answer after two rings, some ridiculous part of his mind telling him not to be so eager. 

"Hey, what's wrong?"

 _Wow, asking the hard questions already._ Zuko wasn't sure where to start with that. 

"My sister." He admits after a moment, feeling raw and hurt all over again just at the mention of it. 

Sokka's voice sharpens, alert and awake now. "Your sister?" It softens into something like confusion. "I didn't know you had a sister."

Zuko sighed to himself, pushing his bangs back into the rest of his hair and wondering why it made sense that this was how his boyfriend would find out about his sister. "Well, I do. Her name is Azula."

The 'is' was very important to him.

"Well, what's wrong? Is she okay?"

Zuko first called knowing that this was probably what they were going to talk about, but the question still caught him off guard. _Is Azula okay?_

"I don't know." He chokes his out, breath catching in his throat when he inhaled. He knew he probably wasn't making any sense to Sokka- _Agni_ , he should have called Jin. 

To save his boyfriend from trying to figure out how to navigate the emotional shit storm he'd found himself in, Zuko explained as best he could. He told Sokka about the park and the plane ticket, about how he threw out his phone but kept up with his sister through the news and her social media. Told him about how one day she just... wasn't there.

"She was only 17." He cried, voice muffled by his hand. He didn't want to wake Izumi. "My baby sister, and I don't know where she _went-"_

Sokka shushed him gently through the phone, offering comforting words until Zuko could finally get air back into his lungs. 

"I know she's not dead." He adds firmly, when he's calmed down. "I just, _know._ Like, in my bones, that she's okay. But sometimes-" His words caught in his throat. "Sometimes I'm scared that I'm _wrong_."

"Look, baby, I think you should trust your instincts. She's your sister- if you know she's alive then _she's alive_. Maybe she's out there trying to find _you_?" Sokka didn't ask questions, didn't ask why Azula would be dead or why she'd given him that plane ticket. How he managed to keep up with her through the _news_. Zuko was grateful.

"And you're sure there's no other way to find out what happened to her?"

Zuko shook his head, and then remembered they were on the phone, which sucked because Zuko thought he might need a hug.

"No, there's- her instagram was deleted and she's not the one who runs her facebook account." Another opportunity for a question that Sokka never asked. "There's no way for me to talk to her."

Something whispered in the back of his mind, a possibility that he'd overlooked or forgotten something; but he was tired and drained and decided not to dwell on it for too long. He'd think about it in the morning.

The conversation shifted and they talked about nothing of consequence for the next hour, until Sokka finally slipped back into sleep. Zuko smiled to himself and whispered goodnight, kissing the speaker and then immediately feeling stupid for it and hanging up. 

-

He woke up on the couch, alarm ringing annoyingly under his hip, and hurried Izumi through her morning routine before he dropped her off at school. 

As usual, she accepted his hug and the kiss on top of her head, but refuses his offer to walk her to class, skipping away with her head held high. He watched her until she disappeared through the doors, missing her already.

-

On the bus ride home he remembered his conversation with Sokka, and ignored the soft feeling in his chest in favour of trying to figure out why he felt like he'd forgotten something. Biting the inside of his cheek, he pulled his phone out and opened instagram, typing in Azula's old handle and letting out a huff when nothing showed up. He tried her actual name in case she'd made a new account, but was unsurprised to find nothing. 

Rolling his eyes to himself, he shoved his phone back into his pocket, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that he'd missed something. It was like having a word on the tip of his tongue but his brain had suddenly emptied of every word he'd ever learned. 

-

He replaced some of the light bulbs in the building, and fixed the lock on someones door before Sela invited him over for lunch. They had ham and cheese sandwiches and watched _Halloween_ before he went back to his own apartment and called Sokka, just to hear his voice and ask about his day. Apparently, Toph was being particularly evil that afternoon, and he could hear her cackling in the background before she demanded to talk to him.

-

It was out of habit that he googled Azula's name later.

He'd sat down to read, but when he opened his laptop his hands moved on autopilot and instead of his PDF files he was left staring at the page of familiar results. Pulling a face at himself, he erased the search and went to close the tab when something clicked in his brain. The forgotten something that he hadn't been able to figure out.

His stomach dropped as he hurriedly typed in the new name, pressing enter with entirely too much force. 

_Ty Lee (@circus_freak) - Instagram photos and videos_

Holy shit.

_("And you're sure there's no other way to find out what happened to her?"_

_"No, there's no way for me to talk to her.")_

Except he didn't need to talk to _her_ to find out what happened.

 _God he was an_ _idiot_.

He clicked the link, biting the nail on his middle finger nervously and feeling the air leave his lungs when he was greeted with a page full of Ty Lee. 

Ty Lee holding up a handful of crystals. Ty Lee in the middle of a yoga pose. Ty Lee with her arm wrapped around a woman in a black dress. Ty Lee kissing the woman in the black dress.

Wait- that was _Mai._ They were grown up, features sharpened and grown into. Mai's hair was longer, draped over her shoulder in a curtain of black; Ty Lees' shorter but still braided. All these years spent missing them, wondering if they were okay, if they were happy. Wishing he could talk to them. Wishing he could introduce them to Izumi.

God, Izumi- how had he raised an entire child when he was apparently too much of an idiot to remember that his sister wasn't the only one with social media?

He didn't know what to do now that he'd found them. Something like fear pulsed through his veins, his default reaction of _'this is too good to be true'_ sparking to life.

Finally, he clicked 'message' and stared at the blinking cursor for a few long seconds before slamming his laptop closed and standing up. He paced for a bit, occasionally glancing back towards his laptop like it might attack him. Did he message her? What if she'd forgotten him? _Okay, that was unlikely, we've been friends for 15 years_. He rolled his eyes at himself. 

What if she doesn't _want_ to talk to him? He'd disappeared for 6 years. And yeah, they'd all promised to find each other in the future but still, 6 years was a long time.

He looked at his laptop, chewing on his thumbnail. _Well_ , he thinks. _I guess this_ is _the future._ Before he could talk himself out of it, he jumped over the back of his couch and pulled his laptop closer The empty message thread was still there, cursor blinking ominously. What did he even say? What are you supposed to say to your best friend that you haven't seen or spoken too since you skipped town because you got pregnant?

Apparently the answer was: _"Ty Lee? Zuko here. I know this is really out of the blue, I'm such an idiot for not looking for you sooner. A lot has happened and things got really messed up, but I miss you so much. I hope you're okay."_ Because that's what he ended up sending. He waited a minute, mentally beating himself up for every word he wished he hadn't written (most of them), before getting up and pacing again, periodically checking the screen to see if it had been read yet. Groaning, he checked the time as well on his next screen-check, and figured it was close enough to 3 for him to go pick up Izumi. Anything to get him out of this hell. 

He closed his laptop, grabbed his phone and keys, and did his best not to think about it for the next hour. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's a sad fact: i get really bad headaches from certain smells (this does not stop me from smelling every candle in the store bc i am nothing if not an idiot) and apparently jasmine is one of them! so i can't drink jasmine tea without feeling like i'm gonna pass out ):


End file.
